title: Baseline for beached marine debris on Sand Island, Midway Atoll.
abstract: Baseline 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.
authors.affiliation: US Geological Survey, Wisconsin Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin, 218 Russell Labs, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA. caribic@wisc.edu
authors.forename: Christine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Ribic
authors.forename: Seba B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Sheavly
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klavitter
mesh_terms: D001493:Bathing Beaches / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006254:Hawaii; D010140:Pacific Ocean; D010969:Plastics / Q000032:analysis / Q000592:standards; D058998:Remote Sensing Technology; D014866:Waste Products / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000592:standards; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D010969:Plastics; D014866:Waste Products; D014873:Water Pollutants