Distribution, Type, Accumulation, and Source of Marine Debris in the United States, 1989–1993

Abstract

Marine debris as a “new” pollution problem was first identified in the United States in the 1980s during public education and awareness campaigns that addressed the condition of coastal beaches (Wallace 1985; Pruter 1987a; O’Hara 1990). Because coastal beaches collect debris from all sources, most studies evaluating marine debris have focused on beaches (O’Hara 1990; Ribic 1991; Cole et al. 1995).KeywordsTotal PlasticMarine DebrisNational Marine Fishery ServiceCoastal BeachPlastic DebrisThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.