Poster abstracts and manuscripts from the Third International ...

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Marine debris is trash discarded in -waters, including lakes,
rivers, the Gulf of Mexico and its bays and estuaries. Marine
debris comes from many sources such as recreational boaters and
anglers, commercial fishing vessels, charter boats and merchant
ships. This debris includes cans, bottles, plastic trash and ice
bags, fishing line, and other household garbage. Oil and filters
are also common pollutants. Marine debris has far reaching
effects. It not only harms the environment, it hurts the
economy. When trash is dumped into waters, it doesn't go away.
Winds and currents can carry it back to shore or even move it
from inland waters to the Gulf of Mexico. Since most of it is
plastic, it can last for hundreds of years. Each year thousands
of mammals, birds, fish and other creatures are killed, injured
or maimed by swallowing plastics or becoming entangled in
discarded nets or monofilament fishing line. Wildlife are not
the only ones affected by marine debris. Boaters report that
hundreds of engines are damaged when plastic bags and other
debris clog water intakes or are caught in propellers. Debris
also damages or tangles fisherman's nets. Trash on the shoreline
is not only an eyesore, it can also become a serious health and
safety problem.
Federal and state laws prohibit disposal of plastic in all
waterways. In spite of civil and criminal penalties for these
violations, there has been little obvious effect on disposal
habits of many marine anglers and recreational boaters.
The ultimate goal of this broadbased educational campaign is to
effect a behavioral change in waterway users who are ignorant,
careless, or unaware of the cumulative effects of marine debris
pollution. The Boaters and Anglers Pledge program is designed to
seek support, commitment, and action by appealing to the
environmental conscience of recreational waterway users. Success
of the campaign will be highly dependent on many cooperating
groups and organizations, but most especially on person-to-person
contact. Boaters and anglers targeted by the program are more
likely to make a conservation commitment by being personally
challenged by friends and fellow boaters and anglers. The
Boaters and Anglers Pledge Program hopes to make it-the "in
thing" to display pride in our coastal and marine resources, and
to render improperly disposed of trash as socially unacceptable.
As regional promotion, pledge commitments, logo familiarity, and
participant actions on the waterways increase in scope and
visibility, the significance and effect of this program should,
grow as well. This program will be deemed successful when
boaters. and anglers themselves make this their project!
Dubsky, Karen
COASTWATCH Europe Survey Results for Slow and Non-degradable
Litter on the European Coast, 1993
COASTWATCH Europe Network, Dublin, Ireland, UK
A coastal survey including litter items found in the splash zone
and tidemark/intertidal has been carried out annually in Europe
since 1987. From national beginning (Ireland) and small