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What is the myth they are referring to?

I haven't been following any stories about the Pacific Gyre in the mainstream media, but I've always understood it to be a region in the Pacific where garbage seems to concentrate because of ocean currents. Much of the garbage isn't visible as it floats just beneath the surface.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StNZ3XUBDYw#t=1m17s

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The myth is that it's a particularly gross and garbage choked area. I've seen many articles and comments about it which have used pictures of garbage strewn Manila harbor as illustration, for example. The reality is that if you were in the middle of the Pacific gyre you could look overboard and not perceive anything special, because mostly it's an increased abundance of tiny pieces of plastic, most of them floating under the surface. Unfortunately, like many issues, people have a hard time caring about things unless they're fairly blatant. It's a big reason why "charismatic megafauna" tend to be poster children for endangered species.

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