Poster abstracts and manuscripts from the Third International ...

48
During the past three years we have sent dozens of these letters
a year, and while most are not answered, we have noticed that
there are no repeats from the parties contacted. It is a slow
process but it brings results because our reporting of the
problems of balloons in the environment has attracted much
attention from the press, including metropolitan dailies.
The most recent letter (January 1994) went to the mayor of
Philadelphia regarding the release of balloons at a major,
center-city parade. Those balloons were not marked, but were
seen on television.
Releases of large groups of unmarked balloons are, fortunately,
somewhat on the decline. Our method of dealing with these was
through petitions. Beginning in 1988, we took petitions to the
public by having a table at fairs, festivals, etc., with
information about the problem and with petitions on which we
obtained, ultimately, thousands of signatures. We believe our
petitions helped, together with others, to cause the Disney
Corporation to discontinue balloon launches.
The balloon letter can be made available to all those attending
the Conference, for use in their own areas. It will be on the
poster with its history and intention and with the encouragement
that it be used, worldwide.
In addition to the balloon letter, we have, for use on the
poster, dozens of balloons with identifying imprints, letters we
have received in affirmative answer to ours, and the latest news
report of balloons discovered inside a marine animal, for use in
a petition campaign.
Holden, Nerina
Marine Debris Pollution on
Indies
National Rivers Authority,
Kingdom
the Beaches of Trinidad, West
Worthing, Sussex, England, United
There is increasing concern about the amount of man-made debris
littering shores in all parts of the world. This pilot study
aimed to assess the marine debris pollution of beaches in
Trinidad, West Indies, a task not undertaken to this extent on
the Island before.
The standing stock of debris on beaches on all coasts of this
island, and one of the westerly isles between Trinidad and South
America, was assessed from one collection at each of the sites
visited. The collection involved bagging removable debris
greater than 2 cm in length from five 1 m transects that ran from.
the water to the first obstruction/vegetation. Debris was
returned to the laboratory where it was categorized by
composition and examined by weight and number of items collected,
From the survey, it was found that the majority of debris items
on the shores of Trinidad were plastic or glass and that these