A new hotspot of macro-litter in the Rutland Island, South Andaman, India: menace from IORC

Abstract

Thirteen sandy beaches of remote Rutland Island were divided into three zones to identify the litter pollution, their source, pathway of plastic transport, to determine the level of macro litter contamination, and its impact on coastal biota. The total area surveyed was 0.52 km 2 (5,20,020.79 m 2 ), and the total number of litter items enumerated was 3,17,565 belonging to twenty-seven distinct litter types. The beaches in Zone II and Zone III were clean and Zone I were very dirty. The maximum litter density (1.03 items/ m 2 ) was observed in Photo Nallah 1 and Photo Nallah 2, whereas the lowest (0.09 items/ m 2 ) was observed in Jahaji beach. The primary contributor of litter on Rutland's beaches was plastics (60%-99%), presumed to originate from the Indian Ocean Rim Countries (IORC). A collective solid waste management initiative by the IORC is essential in preventing littering on remote islands. IntroductionSixty to ninety-nine million tons of litter are disposed into the environment each year and a predictive assessment articulates that the quantity is likely to increase threefold by 2060 (Lebreton and Andrady 2019). The marine litter was classi ed into macro (> 2.5cm to 1m), meso (5mm to 2.5cm), and microplastics (< 5mm) based on their size. Macro litter was further categorized based on its origin as land-derived or oceanic (Galgani et al. 2015; GESAMP 2020). Land-derived litter is associated with agricultural, industrial, and recreational activities. In contrast, ocean-derived litter is typically associated with commercial shipping, sheries, and recreational boating. 192 coastal countries are predicted to create 275 million metric tonnes of plastic garbage, with large volumes (4.8-12.7 million metric tonnes) entering marine systems (Cheshire et al. 2009;Jambeck et al. 2016). A voluminous quantity of these plastics enters marine systems since 40% of the global population (80 persons/km 2 ) live within one hundred kilometers of the coastlines, posing a severe threat to the marine faunal diversity (Gall and Thompson 2015;Galgani et al. 2015;Cavalcante et al. 2020). Consequently, mid-ocean garbage patches, plastic deposition on remote islands, entanglement, plastic ingestion, and mortality of marine animals have been increased globally (Miralles et al. 2018;Rodríguez-Díaz et al. 2020;Kaviarasan et al. 2020).Multiple factors in uence the prevalence of litter on beaches, including the location and topography of the beach, the existence of rivers and streams, oods, and winds (Ryan et al. 2018). Sandy beaches are often assumed to be signi cant sinks for oating litter, and their occurrence may be detrimental to biotic communities, and turtle nesting sites (Nelms et al. 2015).Once plastic litter reaches the vast expanse of the ocean, it may either be deposited on the adjacent coast or carried long distances (due to its low density) by the wind and current patterns. Plastic litter may get stranded on open ocean Islands during this transport, and secluded island systems may serve as a prospective basin (Lavers and Bond ...