But the cynic inside me fears it would never make a difference. First of all, one common statistic is that 90% of trash in the ocean that comes from people dumping it (in rivers) comes from just 10 rivers, all in China/Asia.
And if they cared about the problem, they'd already be doing something about it. But it seems like they don't. Because the real solution there is the same as what is done in the first world -- to implement actual municipal trash pickup and urban trashcans etc. If they can't even do that, I have a hard time believing they'll bother with "bubble barriers".
So this seems like something first-world countries would implement... but that's not where the problem is.
But second, it's also common to hear that a large majority of overall ocean plastic comes from discarded industrial fishing gear -- nets and the like. Which this obviously does nothing for.
So while still very clever, I sadly don't think this could ever make a difference. We need to actually solve the much messier human problems of installing trash collection around the world and figuring out ways to monitor and punish fishers who discard their equipment.