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"Garbage patches in the ocean aren't piled-up islands of trash and debris, as is the common perception. But that doesn't mean the tiny, swirling plastic bits are nothing to worry about.” (Ocean Portal)
There are not neccessarily walkable mounds of trash floating in the ocean, but there are however large clusters of floating loose trah pieces that look like islands. But these pieces are everywhere. They harm animals and rip up sea plants, as well as harm the fish who live in those habitats as well.
“Its vast size and the small size of the trash left the garbage patch largely unnoticed until the early 1990s, when Captain Charles Moore, head of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, sailed through a rarely traveled area between Hawaii and the mainland. Over the course of a week, despite being hundreds of miles from land, Moore
watched a continuous stream of plastic trash float by. Although fishermen and sailors have noted the debris in this area for years, it was Captain Moore who brought the area into the public sphere.”(Ocean Portal)