Deep sea diver finds plastic at bottom of Mariana Trench

Posted by Gabrielle Jacobs on 15 May 2019

Victor Vescovo, a diver from Texas, believes he may have found an item of plastic litter at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Descending nearly 11,000 metres under water, the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean is the deepest place on earth, and is found in the Pacific Ocean. Vescovo, a deep sea diver from a business background embarked on an ocean diving expedition, and quite a historical one too.

Image by Tamara Stubbs, via Twitter/ @ScienceChannel

Inside a submarine, Vescovo and a team of researchers endeavoured venture as deep as it gets, a staggering 10,912 metres below sea level, the deepest anyone has ever dived in a submarine. Their pioneering predecessors are Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss engineer Jacques Piccard, who ventured about 10 metres higher up than they did on their expedition in April. Filmmaker and keen diver James Cameron also undertook such an expedition in 2012, solo in his own submarine. The deepest part of the ocean and the specific part of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific is known as Challenger Deep, a most fitting name for these distant depths.

According to the BBC, Vescovo spotted a plastic bag and a few sweet wrappers floating around the trench bottom, a disappointing discovery if true. Vescovo and the team also helped identify some deep-dwelling ocean species, who reside among the likes of anemones and jellyfish in the dark depths.

Featured image by Tamara Stubbs via @ScienceChannel

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