978-1-4673-1414-5/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE

Marine litter in the different functional zones of the Lithuanian coast line

Arunas Balciunas

Coastal Research and Planning Institute Klaipeda University

H. Manto 84, LT 92294 Klaipeda, Lithuania

Marine litter is any persistent, manufactured or processed solid material discarded, disposed of or abandoned in the marine and

coastal environment. Determining the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the marine litter in the different functional zones of the Lithuanian coast line is essential for actual and potential assessment of socio-economic and ecological impacts of litter. The implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) in Lithuania demands investigation in all 11 descriptors proposed by the European Commission. The lack of knowledge in the amount, types and properties of litter accumulated in the Lithuanian coastline determines an urgent need for scientific investigation current status evaluation based on the sustainable coastal zone development principles. The pollution of different functional zones of Lithuanian coast with the various type of marine litter is discussed.

Keyword: Marine litter; Functional coast zone; sustainable coastal zone development;

I. INTRODUCTION

The task of this study is to try to identify the characteristics of marine litter in the Lithuanian coast line. The description of the marine litter has been discussed widely by the various authors but all agree that the anthropogenic origin of material located in the coastal zone or in the open sea can be named as the marine litter or debris. Although the large scale media interest in the accumulation of oceanic debris began in 2001 through the efforts of Reference [3] more thorough investigation of the marine debris in the Lithuanian coast and coastal water is not yet performed. Reference [1] summarizes the results from several studies that suggest 60-80 % of marine debris is comprised of plastic; this range was further supported by Ref. [2].

As litter is being washed ashore frequently because of the current oceanic and sea pollution with various anthropogenic origin materials, as in [4][7], a survey of stranded litter on the beach is a primary tool for monitoring the impact to the marine environment and describing marine litter pollution.

As the marine litter is composed of various composition materials so the influence to the environment can differ. The investigation importance in order to describe the potential harm to the environment when seeking about marine litter is widely discussed. As the various organic compounds decompose in different ways, because of the composition material, the pollutants emitted to the marine environment can have a significant effect. However the composition materials cannot be the only factor of the possible harm to the environment. Size and the amount of waste are also very important when speaking about the possible effect to the environment. As the particle size increases the visibility, possibility and threat of ingestion, as in [8], also increases. Therefore the more detailed analysis of the issue is currently missing and this only increases the necessity of further investigation in order to determine the current status of the coastal zone pollution with marine debris.

This study tries to answer few very important questions when speaking about Lithuania’s and other HELCOM countries obligation to implement the MSFD and ensure good marine environment status.

II. MATERIALS AND METHODS

Lithuanian coast line is divided in to various functional zones depending on different purposes for which the coastal segment is used also - by the type of environmental protection status. Six different sections of the Lithuanian main land coast line were selected for sampling, see Fig. 1.

All collected waste were identified and recorded using the HELCOM recommendation’s 29/2 attachment No.1 “Guidelines on sampling and reporting of marine litter found on beach”. Styro-foam category was added to the guidelines as the great abundance of this type of beach debris was evident after the first beach survey in January 2012.

The sampling method consisted of determining the location of the beginning and ending of sections using GPS system. Zones near to the water-land contact line, middle part of the beach and near to the vegetation strandline/protective dune front slope for each section were selected (Fig 2). All visible and possible to transport to laboratory for more exact analysis beach debris were collected from 2 m wide and 100 m long strand lines.

For possible impact to the environment the Relative Threat Index (RTI) was calculated using equation: (a+s)*d, (1)

where a- is the abundance of litter on the investigates sections; s- is an average size of the litter particles collected and measured in laboratory; d- is the time period for decomposition of the seven main types of waste composition material.

Each factor used in the RTI calculation had his own scale for evaluation (see Table 1). Abundance, size and the decomposition

period was evaluated for each composite material of the marine litter.

TABLE 1. SCALE AND EVALUATION CRITERIA FOR FACTORS USED IN RTI CALCULATION.

Abundance, units Size, cm Decomposition period, year*

0-100 101-200 201-300 >300 <8 9-29 30-49 >50 <1 1-100 101-1000 >1000

indicator value 1 2 3 4 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4

meaning few medium plenty a lot of small medium big very big very short short long very long *Decomposition period was based on the U.S National Park Service; Mote Marine Lab, FL and “Garbage In, Garbage Out,” Audobon Magazine, Spt/Oct 1998.

Fig. 1 Sampling locations in the Lithuanian coastline

They exposed to open sea sandy beaches composed of sand, gravel/pebble and even boulders (see Table 2). Each section of the

beach was visited and sampled on the 17th of March 2012.

TABLE 2 SAMPLING LOCATIONS IN THE LITHUANIAN COASTLINE

ID Name Characteristics and function I Palanga Sandy beach and recreational activities II Nemirseta Sand/pebbles beach of preservative function III Dutchman’s hat Rocky beach of the Coastal Regional Park IV Melnarage I Sandy beach and active recreation zone V Melnarage II Sandy beach and passive recreation zone VI Melnarage III Sandy beach and active recreation zone

Fig. 2 Beach survey design

III. RESULTS

Fig 3 summarizes the results of the surveys carried out on the 18 strand lines in 6 different functional zones of Lithuanian coast line.

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

I II III IV V VI

Functional zone

amou

nt, u

nits

S1 S2 S3

Fig. 3 Amount of marine litter in different functional zones of the Lithuanian coast line.

The largest amount of marine debris identified in I and VI sections of the beach survey, representatively 304 and 301 units. From the chart it is clearly visible that the main accumulation zone of the litter on the beach is strand line 3, which is closest to the vegetation and the beginning of the dune. Such distribution of the marine litter on the beaches could be explained by the force of the waves and wind during the sea storms pushing various debris with water up the beach. However smallest number of litter found in the IV and especially V functional zones which are very near to the previously mentioned VI zone indicates a possible effect to the accumulation of litter by the hydro technical constructions.

The most equal distribution of marine litter during the survey was found in the III, Dutchman’s hat, section of investigation. It is also worth mentioning that litter found during the survey was mainly from the sea-based source. Large pieces of rubber, various size tangled fishing lines and nets were very frequent compared to the other investigated locations of the Lithuanian coast line.

16%

47%

17%

6%

3%6%

4% 1%

Styro-foam Plastic Paper Glass Rubber Cloth Metal Other

Fig. 4 Ratio of beach litter materials

The distribution of the component material of the marine litter located within the investigation area shows (Fig. 4), that plastic

is most common type of litter. With respect to other scientific analysis [6][9][10] it is only confirmed that plastic composite material is dominant when investigating marine litter. Paper (cigarette butts were most common type of paper litter), and styro-foam are the second and third types of litter found in the investigated territory, representatively 17 and 16 percent. The other materials are least observed during the beach survey.

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

S1

S2

S3

Loca

tion

amount, units

Styro-foam Plastic Paper Glass Rubber Cloth Metal Fig 5 Composite material in different strand lines of the beach

The largest abundance of waste was recorded in the upper strand line of the beach, near vegetation line (Fig. 5). Plastic waste

was dominant waste composition material in all three strand lines. With respect to the meteorological and hydrodynamic conditions, clear lighter fraction, such as paper, styro-foam and plastic, domination is evident in the furthest from the water strand line. It is needed to mention that the glass fragments were most common in the first strandline which is nearest to the water line.

Styro-foam and plastic (Fig. 6: RTI representatively - 28 and 24), have the most significant impact to the environment of all investigated types of beach debris in the targeted territory. Paper and metal type of litter have the lowest values of the RTI therefore least significant impact to the environment.

28

24

6

20

8 86

2

8

14

20

26

32

Styro

-foam

Plastic

Paper

Glass

RubberCloth

Meta

l

very significant mediumsignificant relative threat index

Fig. 6 Relative Threat Index (RTI) for different marine litter

IV. DISCUSSION

The field study and the results from the work in laboratory clearly show that the marine litter characteristics and the possible impact to the Lithuanian coast line needs to be examined more thoroughly. After the current analysis the abundance of waste sampled shows that the accumulation of the marine litter is more common near to the largely populated areas and because of the high amount of people visiting beaches. However it is needed to be mentioned that the coast line of the Klaipeda and Palanga cities’ territories is being cleaned by the waste management companies, quantity of the clean ups in a month depends on the time of year. For such clean ups of the beach from the various debris the size of the particles is a very important parameter as the cleaning is done manually so the larger particles of the marine litter is easier to detect and pick up than the smaller ones thus also having a direct effect on the financial costs of the beach cleaning [5]. As the results showed that the particles which are less than 8 mm size, in any direction, has the highest possible negative impact to the environment. Also with respect to the composite material most of these particles were made of plastic so usually such debris have a more distinctive colour that the litter made from the other composite material so not only that these particles could be easily swallowed by the marine animals but also by the small children who play in the sand during the summer period. Because of that more exact analysis needs to be done in order to say whether or not the colour has any significant effect to the ingestion accuracies in the marine environment.

Further investigation of marine litter distribution, characteristics, possible impact to the environment is necessary not only to evaluate Lithuanian coast line regarding the Marine Strategy Framework Directive regulations but also for possibilities of transport and accumulation simulation in order to indicate the most vulnerable sections of Lithuania’s or Baltic sea coastal zone.

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