title: Marine debris in five national parks in Alaska.
abstract: Marine debris is a management issue with ecological and recreational impacts for agencies, especially on remote beaches not accessible by road. This project was implemented to remove and document marine debris from five coastal National Park Service units in Alaska. Approximately 80km of coastline were cleaned with over 10,000kg of debris collected. Marine debris was found at all 28 beaches surveyed. Hard plastics were found on every beach and foam was found at every beach except one. Rope/netting was the next most commonly found category, present at 23 beaches. Overall, plastic contributed to 60% of the total weight of debris. Rope/netting (14.6%) was a greater proportion of the weight from all beaches than foam (13.3%). Non-ferrous metal contributed the smallest amount of debris by weight (1.7%). The work forms a reference condition dataset of debris surveyed in the Western Arctic and the Gulf of Alaska within one season.
authors.affiliation: Alaska SeaLife Center, PO Box 1329, Seward, AK 99664, USA; School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA. Electronic address: lori.polasek1@gmail.com.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Polasek
authors.affiliation: Alaska SeaLife Center, PO Box 1329, Seward, AK 99664, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bering
authors.affiliation: Kenai Fjords National Park, PO Box 1221, Seward, AK 99664, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Western Arctic National Parklands, 41A Wandling Road, Winthrop, WA 98862, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Neitlich
authors.affiliation: Kenai Fjords National Park, PO Box 1221, Seward, AK 99664, USA.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pister
authors.affiliation: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, PO Box 439, Copper Center, AK 99573, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Terwilliger
authors.affiliation: Katmai National Park and Preserve, PO Box 7, King Salmon, AK 99613, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nicolato
authors.affiliation: Katmai National Park and Preserve, PO Box 7, King Salmon, AK 99613, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.affiliation: National Park Service, Alaska Regional Office, 240 W. 5th Ave, Anchorage, AK 99501, USA.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D000413:Alaska; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D000068316:Parks, Recreational; D010969:Plastics; D014866:Waste Products; D014876:Water Pollution
chemical_list: D010969:Plastics; D014866:Waste Products
keywords: Alaska; Marine debris; National Park Service