Dear Colleagues,

Marine debris is defined as “any persistent solid material that is manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or abandoned into the marine environment or the Great Lakes” (33 USC §§ 1951 et seq, 2006). The impacts of marine debris include significant ecological and economic components. Currently, marine debris is known to lead to the mortality of thousands of marine animals and the associated loss of millions of dollars each year (Jambeck et al., 2015). The presence of marine debris (or litter) in coastal areas is known to be detrimental to tourism. Additionally, marine debris is known to directly and indirectly negatively impact fisheries. However, the ever-increasing magnitude of marine debris in coastal environments will undoubtably increase the impacts on coastal communities.

Depending on the size, marine debris can be categorized into macro and micro-marine debris. Micro-debris is less than 5 mm that is invisible to the naked eye (Zhang, 2017; Lim, 2021). Sources of marine debris are ocean-based (e.g., from fishing vessels, stationary platforms, cargo ships, or other vessels), either floating in the surface, or sinking to the ocean bed (Weiss, 2017), and land-based (e.g., from storm water discharges, extreme natural events from coastal or farther inland, and waterfront areas such as beaches, piers, harbors, riverbanks, marinas, and docks) (Sheavly and Register, 2007). Among the marine debris distributed worldwide, approximately 82% of marine debris is land-based (Sheavly and Register, 2007). According to a recent study, 275 million metric tons of plastic waste were generated by 192 coastal counties in 2010, with 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons entering the ocean (Jambeck et al., 2015). The primary proportion of commonly found debris from coastal surveys are plastics, which are considered land-based marine debris.

Marine debris is a relatively new field of study that is gaining traction. However, literature on sustainable approaches to manage and mitigate marine debris risk is scarce. This Special Issue intends to further our understanding of sustainable ways to prevent and reduce the impacts of marine debris. Themes that could be covered include marine debris prevention, removal, distribution, impacts, risk mitigation, trajectory prediction and track, life cycle assessment, education, citizen or community science, and interactions with humans and/or wildlife from local to global scales. In addition to research articles, case-studies and program assessments are encouraged for this issue.

We hope you will consider submitting an article. If you have any questions about the potential fit of your article or have any other questions, please reach out to us. Additionally, please feel free to send this invitation to any colleagues that might be interested in submitting a manuscript for consideration in this Special Issue.

Reference:

33 U.S.C. 1951-1958, 2006. Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title33/chapter33A&edition=prelim.

Jambeck, J.R., Geyer, R., Wilcox, C., Siegler, T.R., Perryman, M., Andrady, A., Narayan, R., and Law, K.L. (2015). Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean. Science. 347(6223), 768-771.

Zhang, H., (2017). Transport of microplastics in coastal seas. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 199, 74-86.

Lim, X. (2021). Micropastics are everywhere-but are they harmful? Nature, 593, 22-25.

Weiss, K.R. (2017). The pileup of plastic debris is more than ugly ocean litter. Knowable Magazine. doi:10.1146/knowable-120717-211902.

Sheavly, S. B. and Register, K. M. (2007). Marine Debris & Plastics: Environmental Concerns, Sources, Impacts and Solutions. Journal of Polymers and the Environment. 15 (4): 301–305.

Prof. Dr. Junfeng Ma
Prof. Dr. Eric Sparks
Dr. Caitlin Wessel
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• sustainable management
• marine debris prevention
• marine debris removal
• marine debris risk mitigation