Charles Moore, discoverer of the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch," will speak Wednesday at a marine debris forum at the State Capitol auditorium and at the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve Theatre on Thursday, it was announced today by Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawai'i.

Both events are free and open to the public. The marine debris forum is from 6:30-9 p.m. and the Hanauma Bay session from 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Moore discovered the "Eastern Garbage Patch" 10 years ago on his return voyage to California after sailing in the 1997 Trans Pacific yacht race to Hawai'i. He veered from the usual sea route and found there was nowhere he could go without seeing plastic.

Since then, Moore has dedicated his time and resources to researching the ocean's plastic load. He founded the Algalita Marine Research Foundation and in 1999, his research showed six times more plastic than plankton in the central Pacific.

Moore has sampled plastic fragments in over 20,000 miles of the north Pacific ocean.