Trends and drivers of marine debris on the Atlantic coast of the United States 1997–2007

Ribic, Christine A.; Sheavly, Seba B.; Rugg, David; Erdmann, Eric S.

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2010.03.021

Cited by 152 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…For trends in the amount of litter washed ashore and/or deposited on coastlines, beach litter monitoring schemes provide the most comprehensive data on individual litter items. Large data sets have already been held by institutions (Ribic et al 2010) or NGO's such as the Ocean Conservancy through their International Coastal Cleanup scheme for 25 years, or the EU OSPAR marine litter monitoring program, which started over 10 years ago and covers 78 beaches (Schultz et al 2013). The lack of large-scale trends in the OSPAR-regions is probably due to small-scale heterogeneity of near-shore currents, which evoke small-scale heterogeneity in deposition patterns on beaches .…”

Section: Beachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The lack of large-scale trends in the OSPAR-regions is probably due to small-scale heterogeneity of near-shore currents, which evoke small-scale heterogeneity in deposition patterns on beaches . Ribic et al (2010Ribic et al ( , 2012b derived several nonlinear models to describe the development of pollution of coastal areas with marine litter. There were long-term changes in indicator debris on the Pacific Coast of the U.S. and Hawaii over the nine-year period of the study.…”

Section: Beachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Global Distribution, Composition and Abundance of Marine Litter

Galgani

Hanke

Maes

2015

Marine Anthropogenic Litter

433

338

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Marine debris is commonly observed everywhere in the oceans. Litter enters the seas from both land-based sources, from ships and other installations at sea, from point and diffuse sources, and can travel long distances before being stranded. Plastics typically constitute the most important part of marine litter sometimes accounting for up to 100 % of floating litter. On beaches, most studies have demonstrated densities in the 1 item m −2 range except for very high concentrations because of local conditions, after typhoons or flooding events. Floating marine debris ranges from 0 to beyond 600 items km −2 . On the sea bed, the abundance of plastic debris is very dependent on location, with densities ranging from 0 to >7700 items km −2 , mainly in coastal areas. Recent studies have demonstrated that pollution of microplastics, particles <5 mm, has spread at the surface of oceans, in the water column and in sediments, even in the deep sea. Concentrations at the water surface ranged from thousands to hundred thousands of particles km −2 . Fluxes vary widely with factors such as proximity of urban activities, shore and coastal uses, wind and ocean currents. These enable the presence of accumulation areas in oceanic convergence zones and on the seafloor, notably in coastal canyons. Temporal trends are not clear with evidences for increases, decreases or without changes, depending on locations and environmental conditions. In terms of distribution and quantities, proper global estimations based on standardized approaches are still needed before considering efficient management and reduction measures.

show abstract

Section: Beachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Beachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Distribution, Composition and Abundance of Marine Litter

Galgani

Hanke

Maes

2015

Marine Anthropogenic Litter

433

338

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The optimised measurement protocol combined with the identification scheme was applied for the analysis of North Sea plankton and sediment samples with respect to microplastics (Figs 11,12). In both samples microplastics of different polymers were detected.…”

Section: Test With Environmental Samplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Offshore sources for plastic litter are vessels, boats or offshore platforms, [10] contents of lost containers from cargo shipping, [8] the world's fishing fleet [6] and the marine aquaculture. [11] Independently of where the plastic litter originates from, the still increasing global production of synthetic polymers leads to the fact that the amount of litter that arrives in the oceans will constantly increase in the future [12] which leads to an accumulation of plastic litter in the marine environment. [7,13] Whether deliberately dumped or accidentally lost, plastic litter can persist within marine habitats for prolonged periods of time, as a result of both the durability of polymeric materials and the prevailing physical and chemical conditions at sea (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Focal plane array detector-based micro-Fourier-transform infrared imaging for the analysis of microplastics in environmental samples

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Environmental context. Microplastics are of increasing environmental concern following reports that they occur worldwide from the arctic to the deep sea. However, a reliable methodology that facilitates an automated measurement of abundance and identity of microplastics is still lacking. We present an analytical protocol that applies focal plane array detector-based infrared imaging of microplastics enriched on membrane filters applicable to investigations of microplastic pollution of the environment.Abstract. The pollution of the environment with microplastics (plastic pieces ,5 mm) is a problem of increasing concern. However, although this has been generally recognised by scientists and authorities, the analysis of microplastics is often done by visual inspection alone with potentially high error rates, especially for smaller particles. Methods that allow for a fast and reliable analysis of microplastics enriched on filters are lacking. Our study is the first to fill this gap by using focal plane array detector-based micro-Fourier-transform infrared imaging for analysis of microplastics from environmental samples. As a result of our iteratively optimised analytical approach (concerning filter material, measuring mode, measurement parameters and identification protocol), we were able to successfully measure the whole surface (>10-mm diameter) of filters with microplastics from marine plankton and sediment samples. The measurement with a high lateral resolution allowed for the detection of particles down to a size of 20 mm in only a fractional part of time needed for chemical mapping. The integration of three band regions facilitated the pre-selection of potential microplastics of the ten most important polymers. Subsequent to the imaging the review of the infrared spectra of the pre-selected potential microplastics was necessary for a verification of plastic polymer origin. The approach we present here is highly suitable to be implemented as a standard procedure for the analysis of small microplastics from environmental samples. However, a further automatisation with respect to measurement and subsequent particle identification would facilitate the even faster and fully automated analysis of microplastic samples.

show abstract

“…The volunteers had been trained in the survey technique and had photo guides of debris items to assist in identification. Twenty-three surveys were completed.On each survey, volunteers collected all marine debris larger than 2.5 cm in length, height, width or diameter found on the site from the water's edge up to the berm, vegetation or dune area (Ribic et al, 2010). Only debris resulting from the US Navy's previous occupation of Midway (e.g., metal wire, concrete pieces) was not collected.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Baseline for beached marine debris on Sand Island, Midway Atoll

Ribic

Sheavly

Klavitter

2012

Marine Pollution Bulletin

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tBaseline measurements were made of the amount and weight of beached marine debris on Sand Island, Midway Atoll, June 2008-July 2010. On 23 surveys, 32,696 total debris objects (identifiable items and pieces) were collected; total weight was 740.4 kg. Seventy-two percent of the total was pieces; 91% of the pieces were made of plastic materials. Pieces were composed primarily of polyethylene and polypropylene. Identifiable items were 28% of the total; 88% of the identifiable items were in the fishing/aquaculture/shipping-related and beverage/household products-related categories. Identifiable items were lowest during April-August, while pieces were at their lowest during June-August. Sites facing the North Pacific Gyre received the most debris and proportionately more pieces. More debris tended to be found on Sand Island when the Subtropical Convergence Zone was closer to the Atoll. This information can be used for potential mitigation and to understand the impacts of large-scale events such as the 2011 Japanese tsunami.Published by Elsevier Ltd.Marine debris is one of the important management problems facing the islands in the Papahā naumokuā kea Marine National Monument (Monument) (Selkoe et al., 2008). The coastal areas of these islands are dynamic environments in which debris is deposited on the beaches and re-circulated into the near-shore area via wave action, tides, and storms. Because of the minimal human population in the Monument and rigorous on-island waste management, marine debris comes entirely from sources external to the Monument. Marine debris research in the Monument has focused on the impact of fishing nets on coral systems and the endangered Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi) (Boland and Donohue, 2003;Dameron et al., 2007). This has resulted in marine debris management being focused on removal of fishing nets and other gear. Little is known about other beached marine debris in the Monument (McDermid and McMullen, 2004;Morishige et al., 2007), other than that debris deposited on Monument beaches arrives from non-Monument sources. The objective of this study was to collect baseline information on the full spectrum of marine debris deposited on Monument beaches.The study was done on Sand Island, Midway Atoll; Sand Island is part of the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. The island has an average population of 92 people and has the infrastructure to support a monitoring program. Four monitoring sites were used; the sites were 150-m lengths of beach with randomly chosen starting points. Two sites were on North Sand Island (facing the North Pacific Gyre), one site was on the west side (oblique to the Gyre), and one was on the south side (where the fringing reef is closest to shore) (Fig. 1). Site boundaries were established using GPS and marked at ground level so as not to pose a hazard to flying birds or other wildlife using these beach areas. The markers were made from existing debris found on the island -derelict fishing buoys anchored into the sand by construction reba...

show abstract

Trends and drivers of marine debris on the Atlantic coast of the United States 1997–2007

Cited by 152 publications

References 23 publications

Global Distribution, Composition and Abundance of Marine Litter

Global Distribution, Composition and Abundance of Marine Litter

Focal plane array detector-based micro-Fourier-transform infrared imaging for the analysis of microplastics in environmental samples

Baseline for beached marine debris on Sand Island, Midway Atoll

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About