MARINE POLLUTION:

1
MARINE POLLUTION
LITTER DEBRIS
2

• Marine litter (debris)
• all objects that do not naturally occur in the
  marine and coastal environment water surface,
  water column, seabed, shore but are
  nevertheless found there.

3
Further defined

• Marine litter is any persistent, manufactured
  or processed solid material discarded, disposed
  of or abandoned in the the marine and coastal
  environment.

4

• 70 of marine litter sinks
• - found on the seabed in both shallow coastal
  waters and the deep sea
• While items such as needles from medical waste,
  tin cans and glass bottles pose obvious dangers,
  it is plastic which poses the biggest threat to
  wildlife and people.
• Almost 90 of floating marine debris is plastic
• The majority of litter (more than 50) found at
  sea or on beaches is made of plastic
• 72 in Hawaii McDermid and McMullen (2004)

5

• The types of plastic items that are found at sea
  include
• raw plastic pellets
• (about the size of wheat grains, from which
  larger items are manufactured)
• plastic bags and sheeting
• Q tip (cotton bud) sticks
• monofilament fishing nets and
• multi-pack drink-can yokes

6

• A survey of floating plastic marine debris in the
  Southern, Atlantic and Arctic Oceans noted such
  debris in all regions (0-10 items/km2)
• Even in the Southern Ocean (Antarctica) debris
  was found (3 items/km2)
• As study from ten years earlier encountered
  similar rates of debris.
• This illustrates the widespread nature of marine
  debris, even in pristine environments.
• The researchers also noted that marine debris
  could be a probable vector of invasive species
  (rafting). Barnes and Milner
  (2005)

7

• The Algalita Marine Research Foundation (US), was
  conducting a survey across the North Pacific
  Central Gyre in 2002
• Between Hawaii and California they reported an
  immense field of plastic debris almost the size
  of Central Europe
• They reported a 61 weight ratio of floating and
  suspended plastic to zooplankton (i.e.
  floating plastic weight 6x zooplankton weight)

Moore et al. (2001)
8
Impacts of Marine Debris
on Marine Life

• Entanglement
• Injury or death
• Reduced circulation
• Impairment of abilities
• Ingestion
• Choking
• Blocking digestive tract starvation
• False satiation - starvation
• Stomach ulceration
• Leaching of toxic materials

9
Entanglement

• Entanglement/entrapment occurs when an animal
  becomes encircled or ensnared by an object
• most common discarded (ghost) fishing nets
• Over 143 marine species, including all sea turtle
  species, have been reported in entanglement
  accidents
• Over 100,000 marine mammals and turtles alone
  die due to marine debris entanglement
• Its been proposed that entanglement was a major
  contributor to the decline of the Alaskan
  Northern Fur Seal - 50,000 deaths annually
• An estimated 1 million seabirds die every year
  Laist (1987, 1997)

10
(No Transcript)
11
(No Transcript)
12
(No Transcript)
13
(No Transcript)
14
(No Transcript)
15
(No Transcript)
16

• Plastics are also used as nesting material by
  birds.

• e.g. Over 90 of the 30,000 gannet nests on
  Grassholm Island (UK) now contain plastic.

• This shows the extent of plastic pollution in
  surrounding waters as gannets collect almost all
  of their nest material at sea.

• Young gannets feet can often become entangled,
  resulting in serious injuries.

17
Ingestion

• Ingestion occurs when an animal swallows a litter
  item, sometimes accidentally, more frequently
  because it looks like a food source
• Young, inexperienced animals may be particularly
  vulnerable
• Over 177 marine species have been reported to
  accidentally eat plastic

18
Ingestion by seabirds

• On the Aleutian Islands (Alaska) 37 species of
  bird were reported to have ingested plastics
  the rate of this ingestion has
  increased.
• Many of these were planktivorous birds with
  sieve-like beak adaptations
• Some animals had stomachs packed with particles
• Adult birds can feed this particles to chicks
  when they regurgitate food
• Carnivorous birds (e.g. skuas) ingest plastic
  their prey has eaten Robarts et al. (1995)

19
Beach Litter

• 2000 - study of marine litter along 26 beaches
  around the Sea of Japan in both Japan and Russia
• Average number of pieces
• Japan 341/100m2
• Russia 20.7/100m2
• Plastic accounted for between 40-80 of all items
  in terms of weight and number of pieces Kusui
  and Noda (2003).

20
Beach Litter

• Sept. 2001 Feb. 2003 - study of small plastic
  debris on 9 coastal areas of Hawaiian Archipelago
  McDermid and McMullen (2004)
• Greatest quantities were found on 3 of the most
  remote beaches
• 72 of debris was plastic by weight
• The greater quantities at remote beaches may be
  due to regular clean-ups at more populated sites

21
Beach Litter

• Large quantities of marine debris were found in
  the habitat of the endangered Hawaiian monk seal
  Boland and Donahue (2003)
• Plots of reef were surveyed and cleaned of debris
  and re-examined one and two years later
• 16-165 pieces of debris/km2
• Up to 141 pieces of debris /km2 added every year
• 84 of the debris was discarded fishing gear.

22
Ingestion at the bottom of the food chain

• Microscopic plastic fragments and fibers are
  widespread in the pelagic zone
• Fragments appear to result from degradation of
  larger objects
• Biodegradable plastics are composites with
  materials such as starch that do degrade
• - but leave behind non-degradable plastic
  fragments
• Some cleaning agents also contain abrasive
  plastic fragments

23
Ingestion at the bottom of the food chain

• Surveys of coastal plankton samples found
  microscopic plastic fragments Thompson et al.
  (2004)
• Plastic fragments were recorded in the 1960s
  -but levels of plastic increased over time
• Laboratory experiments proved that microscopic
  plastic particles were being ingested by
  amphipods, lugworms and barnacles Thompson et
  al. (2004)
• These ingested plastics may leach toxic materials
  but research so far is inconclusive

24
Impacts of marine litter
ON HUMANS

• Broken glass and discarded medical equipment may
  cause injury to beach visitors.

• A coastal community that depends on tourism can
  suffer substantial economic loss if washed-up
  plastic and sewage-related debris destroys the
  appeal of its beaches.

25

• Commercial fishing interests can also be affected

• Lost or abandoned nets and fish traps continue to
  capture target and non-target species

GHOST FISHING

• Even when the lost nets sink from the weight of
  their catch, the long-lasting nature of plastic
  means they can continue to damage the seabed and
  affect commercially important shellfish species
  for many years.

26
Economic impact

• Estimated 250 million of revenue annually is
  lost due to ghost fishing removing catchable fish
  , crabs etc.
• Survey in Newport, Oregon 58 of fishermen
  annually spend up to 2,725 per vessel due to
  plastic debris damage
• Estimated 50 million annual in vessel insurance
  claims from engine damage due to plastics

27
References

• Barnes, D.K.A. and Milner, P. 2005. Drifting
  plastic and its consequences for sessile organism
  dispersal in the Atlantic Ocean. Marine Biology
  146 815-82
• Boland, R.C. and Donahue, M.J. 2003. Marine
  debris accumulation in the nearshore habitat of
  the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, Monachus
  schauinslandi 1999-2001. Marine Pollution
  Bulletin 46 1385-1394.
• Kusui, T. and Noda, M. 2003. International survey
  on the distribution of stranded and buried litter
  on beaches along the sea of Japan. Marine
  Pollution Bulletin 47 175-179.
• Laist, D.W. 1987. Overview of the biological
  effects of lost and discarded plastic debris in
  the marine environment. Marine Pollution Bulletin
  18 319-326.
• Laist, D.W. 1997. Impacts of Marine Debris
  Entanglement of marine life in marine debris
  including a comprehensive list of species with
  entanglement and ingestion records. In Marine
  Debris Sources, Impacts and Solutions (Ed. by J.
  Coe and D.B. Rogers). Springer Series on
  Environmental Management. Springer-Verlag, New
  York
• McDermid, K.J. and McMullen, T.L. 2004.
  Quantitative analysis of small-plastic debris on
  beaches in the Hawaiian archipelago. Marine
  Pollution Bulletin 48 790-794
• Moore, C.J., Moore,S.L., Leecaster M.K. and
  Weisberg, S.B. 2001. A comparison of plastic and
  plankton in the North Pacific central gyre.
  Marine Pollution Bulletin 42.
• Robarts, M.D., Piatt, J.F. and Wohl, K.D. 1995.
  Increasing frequency of plastic particles
  ingested by seabirds in the subarctic north
  Pacific. Marine Pollution Bulletin 30 151-157.
• Thompson, R.C., Olsen, Y., Mitchell, R.P., Davis,
  A., Rowland, S.J., John, A.W.G., McGonigle, D.
  and Russell, A.E. 2004. Lost at sea where is all
  the plastic?  Science 304 838.