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- Title
Marine Debris on a Protected Barrier Island in the Southeastern United States (St. Catherines Island, Georgia, USA).
- Authors
Calhoun, W. Reid; Ezell, Eric K.
- Abstract
Calhoun, W.R. and Ezell, E.K., 2024. Marine debris on a protected barrier island in the southeastern United States (St. Catherines Island, Georgia, USA). Journal of Coastal Research, 40(3), 485–498. Charlotte (North Carolina), ISSN 0749-0208. Marine debris is a global issue with ecological, societal, and economic impacts, but its severity on southeastern North American beaches remains poorly understood. Abundance, composition, and distribution of meso- and macrodebris on St. Catherines Island, a protected barrier island off the coast of Georgia, were estimated in June 2021. The island's 19.4 km of beaches hold an estimated 5522 items (95% confidence interval = 4361–6457) of easily visible anthropogenic marine debris, with a total end-to-end length of 1.1 km (0.7–1.6 km). The N and S ends of the island were identified as plastic debris hot spots by comparing the distributions of anthropogenic and natural debris. Although average debris density (0.012 items m–2) was lower than most global and national averages, this study highlights the vulnerability of remote and undeveloped barrier islands as sinks for marine pollution.
- Subjects
GEORGIA; MARINE debris; PLASTIC scrap; ISLANDS; MARINE pollution; BARRIER islands; GEOLOGIC hot spots; ECONOMIC impact
- Publication
Journal of Coastal Research, 2024, Vol 40, Issue 3, p485
- ISSN
0749-0208
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-23-00067.1