Research Areas > Marine Debris > Plastic Debris on the Ocean Bottom
Research Area: Plastic Debris on the Ocean Bottom
Large-scale surveys of the Southern California Bight (SCB) are typically coordinated by SCCWRP every five years. Unlike most other regional programs around the country, these integrated and collaborative programs have been conducted by a consortium of up to 65 local agencies that work together, each contributing a small part of the data describing the whole SCB. In this way, no single agency controls the fate of the program, but it is instead fed by interaction and communication. The result is a regional program that has widespread appeal, services the needs of local agencies, and delivers information directly to managers for improved decision-making.
SCCWRP Research
Three studies of marine debris have been conducted as part of a region-wide monitoring effort of the Southern California Bight (SCB). The first study, in 1994, provided a baseline for comparing the amounts of debris to those found in 1998 and 2003. In 1994 about 14% of the SCB had anthropogenic debris, whereas in 1998 this number increased to 23%, and in 2003 was about the same at 25%. This is largely due to the fact that more extensive surveys were done in 1998 and 2003 (314 stations in 1998 and 210 in 2003 compared to 114 for 1994) as well as the inclusion of bays, harbors, and islands.
Trends for all three (1994, 1998, and 2003) studies were similar, in that most of the debris occurred in small amounts and small biomass; however, trends for occurrence varied. The higher occurrence of anthropogenic debris in the central and southern regions (the most populated) was similar to that found in 1994 and 1998. For 1994 and 1998, plastic, metal debris, and glass bottles occurred over a much larger area at large POTW areas and were thought to be most likely from recreational boat uses. However, in 2003 most items were distributed evenly among the large POTW areas with the exception of fishing gear and glass bottles which were found only in non-POTW areas. Overall, anthropogenic debris had higher areal extent in all subpopulations for 2003 versus the previous surveys, with the exception of the inner shelf and POTW subpopulations. This higher areal coverage in 2003 was thought to be due to boating and shipping activities as well as to debris left by historical runoff events.
SCCWRP’s main projects involving plastic debris on the ocean bottom are:
This page was last updated on: 1/20/2010