There may be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050
By 2050, there may be more plastic than fish in the ocean, with a 2015 study estimating that there are 5.25trn pieces of garbage afloat at sea. Plastic pollution is having a severe impact on marine environments and its wildlife, with degraded plastic called microplastics found in most oceans. The result of a “throwaway culture”, plastic pollution affects animal life from zooplankton to killer whales.

When you're driving down the West Coast Highway on Vancouver Island, it's hard not to be in awe of the surrounding natural beauty. The 100-km stretch of highway that runs from Victoria to Port Renfrew is flanked by the sprawling Pacific Ocean on one side, and lush rainforest on the other. Scattered between the trees and ocean are a plethora of beaches where people hike, surf, swim, and camp; it's a paradise for outdoor enthusiasts.

On this particular day, there are a couple of dozen volunteers scattered across the beach, piling discarded bottles, cigarette butts, plastic straws, beer cans, flip flops, and an assortment of other trash into white pails. Ultimately, the group dumps the garbage onto a giant blue tarp where it's sorted and carried out to a truck for proper disposal. After the trash is gathered and weighed, the volunteers on Sombrio will have picked up approximately 650-lbs of garbage, including a substantial bundle of gigantic wire that's washed ashore.

Surfrider started as a small grassroots movement in California during the 1980s and now boasts over 50,000 members with roughly 80 chapters around the globe, including three in Canada. Every month the Vancouver Island Chapter has a beach cleanup, where volunteers put on work gloves, rubber boots, and pick-up garbage.

On a typical wet-winter west coast afternoon, I drove out to Sombrio Beach, located approximately 20-km south of Port Renfrew, to see first-hand the impact garbage is having on our ocean and beaches. I spent the afternoon with an international group called the Surfrider Foundation whose mandate "is dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world's oceans, waves and beaches through a powerful activist network."

"I've been coming out to this beach since I was kid," said Jamie McKay, Chairperson of the Vancouver Island chapter of Surfrider and lead organizer of the Sombrio cleanup. McKay added that he eventually started coming out to cleanups with Surfrider and before he knew it, he was helping lead the local chapter.

Surfrider has a variety of initiatives and campaigns focusing on beach access, coastal preservation, clean water, ocean protection and plastic pollution. Garbage and plastic pollution has become a global epidemic, one that Surfrider is working hard to combat.

In September of last year, more than 40-tonnes of garbage was pulled from the beaches of Vancouver Island alone. A good portion of the garbage is alleged to have come from the Japanese tsunami from 2011. However, the problem is not limited to just Vancouver Island; in 2015 a study estimated that the ocean contained 5.25-trillion pieces of garbage and counting. Some even estimate there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.