For years, social media users have shared a photograph of refuse floating on the surface of water and claimed that it shows the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch," a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean.
For example, in early February 2025, one X user posted (archived) the picture and wrote: "Did you know? The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a massive collection of marine debris, is now estimated to be twice the size of Texas!"
Other iterations of the photo appeared in 2021 and throughout 2024.
In short, while the picture is authentic, it does not show the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch." Underwater photographer
In a Facebook message, Power confirmed that it was indeed her photograph and that it was taken off the coast of Roatán Island in 2017. On Oct. 16 of that year, she shared similar pictures on Facebook —
However, one of the photos she posted (below right) showed a man in scuba gear who looked similar to the person seen in the picture in question (below left). The man's hair, clothes and diving equipment match in both photographs.
(Caroline Power)
Power has posted numerous photographs of bodies of water covered in waste on her photography Facebook page and her personal account.
British newspaper The Telegraph interviewed Power in October 2017 (archived) and described her team's experience of witnessing the "sea of plastic and Styrofoam":
The worst of the rubbish the dive team found was about 15 miles off the coast of Roatan heading towards the Cayos Cochinos Marine Reserve
"We were on a dive trip to a set of islands that don't quite break the ocean surface. They are one of the most pristine dive sites in this part of the Caribbean," Ms Power recalled.
"The photo of the diver in the water was actually over one of these seamounts. To see an area that is supposed to be pristine covered in garbage and trash was disheartening."
She said they passed through floating garbage for "nearly five miles", adding: "Everywhere we looked, plastic bags of all shapes and sizes: chip bags, ziplocks, grocery, trash, snack bags, other packaging. Some were whole and the rest were just pieces. Sadly, many turtles, fish, whales, and seabirds will mistake those bits of plastic for food.
"We then reached an area about two miles wide that had multiple trash lines that stretched from horizon to horizon
"There was also a seemingly infinite number of plastic forks, spoons, drink bottles, and plates. There were broken soccer balls, toothbrushes, a tv, and so many shoes and flip flops."
The "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" is actually a misnomer. In June 2024, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Ocean Service said the term paints an inaccurate picture of the marine debris problem in the North Pacific Ocean.
(NOAA)
The phrase should be used to describe debris concentrations in various regions of the North Pacific, not one specific area.
"The exact size, content, and location of the 'garbage patches' are difficult to accurately predict," the agency wrote, adding:
The name "Pacific Garbage Patch" has led many to believe that this area is a large and continuous patch of easily visible marine debris items such as bottles and other litter—akin to a literal island of trash that should be visible with satellite or aerial photographs. This is not the case. While higher concentrations of litter items can be found in this area, much of the debris is actually small pieces of floating plastic that are not immediately evident to the naked eye.
Ocean debris is continuously mixed by wind and wave action and widely dispersed both over huge surface areas and throughout the top portion of the water column. It is possible to sail through "garbage patch" areas in the Pacific and see very little or no debris on the water's surface. It is also difficult to estimate the size of these "patches," because the borders and content constantly change with ocean currents and winds. Regardless of the exact size, mass, and location of the "garbage patch," manmade debris does not belong in our oceans and waterways and must be addressed.
Wilson Center, an independent research group, reported in 2020 that Honduras saw "waves of pollution" following severe storms that underscored an existing waste management issue that had led to concentrations of waste dubbed "garbage islands."
Researchers writing in a May 2020 issue of Marine Pollution Bulletin used Roatán Island as a case study of plastic accumulation zones in coastal seas, acknowledging that Power captured an October 2017 "episode" published by The Telegraph. The study authors wrote:
The issue of plastic in the marine environment is a growing concern. Images of floating plastic island are often found in mainstream press publications. In this study, we focus on such an episode that occurred in October 2017 near the island of Roatan in the Gulf of Honduras.
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On October 16, 2017, a Honduran photographer, Caroline Power published in United Kingdom newspaper The Telegraph photos taken off Honduras exposing an environmental scandal (Molloy, 2017). During a boat trip, she uncovered a large area of floating debris located between Roatan Island and the Cayos Cochinos marine reserve. It was mostly made up of light debris, such plastic bags, bottles and Styrofoam.
Power's images were also shared in a report published by the World Bank Group titled "Marine Pollution in the Caribbean: Not a Minute to Waste." The 2017 event was described as "a mass of floating trash":
Litter and debris are a common sight in the region's marine and coastal areas, sometimes covering vast expanses of water. In 2017, a mass of floating trash at least eight kilometers wide and several kilometers long was found off the coast of Honduras apparently caused by heavy rains and discharge from rivers.
On Nov. 4, 2017, after publishing her photos, Power addressed the response she had received from others who were concerned about the ongoing garbage problem.
Four days later, she posted a video showing more refuse, writing that "a group of recently hatched sea turtles [was] rescued from a floating mat of plastic and seaweed before they wash[ed] ashore." The footage featured similar scenes to those shown in her pictures.
Snopes has previously debunked another photo that was said to show the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch."