Marine debris comes from both land-based and ocean-based sources, with 80% originating on land. It has a variety of negative impacts on coastal ecosystems, such as entanglement, ingestion, and serving as a vector for toxic pollutants. Efforts to clean up marine debris include removing debris already in the oceans, installing filters on storm drains to intercept debris before it reaches waterways, and enacting laws and regulations to reduce future debris entering the environment.

2. Outline
1. Impact of marine debris on coastal
ecosystems
A. What is marine debris?
B. Where does it come from?
C. What impacts does it have?
D. How can we clean it up?

3. What is marine debris?
“Persistent solid material that is manufactured or
processed and directly or indirectly, intentionally or
unintentionally, disposed of or abandoned into
the marine environment” – NOAA

4. What is marine debris?
Macro and micro

5. What is marine debris?
Macro and micro

6. What is marine debris?
Secondary impacts – photodegradation and leaching

7. 80% of debris comes from land-based activities
- plastics
20% are dumped by ships, boaters, offshore rigs
- fishing nets Marine Debris Sources
Ships, rigs
Land-based
Where does it come from?

8. Where does it come from?
Great Pacific Garbage Patch

9. Where does it come from?
Rio Bayamon, Puerto Rico

10. Where does it come from?
Rio La Plata, Puerto Rico

11. What impacts does it have?
• entanglement
• starvation or ruptured
organs
• block sunlight
• food web structure
• absorb harmful
pollutants
• asthetics

12. How can we clean it up?
• Ocean Roomba

13. How can we clean it up?
• Ocean Cleanup Array - an anchored network of floating
booms and processing platforms
Read more: 19-Year-Old Student Develops Ocean Cleanup Array That Could Remove
7,250,000 Tons Of Plastic From the World's Oceans | Inhabitat

14. How can we clean it up?
• Storm drain filters

15. How can we clean it up?

16. How can we clean it up?
• Assessing and Monitoring
Floatable Debris
• Coastal Cleanup
• Laws and Regulations
• Changing behaviors that
lead to marine debris

17. How can we clean it up?
• Trash Free Waters
Action Plan 2014,
EPA, San Juan Bay
Estuary Program,
PRRP

18. Discussion
• Where does marine debris have more impact
– open ocean or coastal zone?
• Do we know all the impacts?
• What mitigation measures are viable?
• At what scale should mitigation take place?

19. Further reading
• Eriksen, M., Lebreton, L. C. M., Carson, H. S., Thiel, M., Moore, C. J., Borerro, J. C., … Reisser, J. (2014). Plastic Pollution in the
World’s Oceans: More than 5 Trillion Plastic Pieces Weighing over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea. PLoS ONE, 9(12), e111913.
http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0111913
• Zettler, E. R., Mincer, T. J., & Amaral-Zettler, L. A. (2013). Life in the “plastisphere”: microbial communities on plastic marine
debris. Environmental Science & Technology, 47(13), 7137–46. http://doi.org/10.1021/es401288x
• Baztan, J., Carrasco, A., Chouinard, O., Cleaud, M., Gabaldon, J. E., Huck, T., … Vanderlinden, J.-P. (2014). Protected areas in
the Atlantic facing the hazards of micro-plastic pollution: first diagnosis of three islands in the Canary Current. Marine
Pollution Bulletin, 80(1-2), 302–11. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.12.052
• Hajszan, T., & Leranth, C. (2010). Bisphenol A interferes with synaptic remodeling. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology, 31(4),
519–30. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.yfrne.2010.06.004
• Mankidy, R., Wiseman, S., Ma, H., & Giesy, J. P. (2013). Biological impact of phthalates. Toxicology Letters, 217(1), 50–58.
Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378427412014051
• Oros, D. R., Jarman, W. M., Lowe, T., David, N., Lowe, S., & Davis, J. A. (2003). Surveillance for previously unmonitored
organic contaminants in the San Francisco Estuary. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 46(9), 1102–10. http://doi.org/10.1016/S0025-
326X(03)00248-0
• Stewart, M., Olsen, G., Hickey, C. W., Ferreira, B., Jelić, A., Petrović, M., & Barcelo, D. (2014). A survey of emerging
contaminants in the estuarine receiving environment around Auckland, New Zealand. The Science of the Total Environment,
468-469, 202–10. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.08.039