Spatial Distribution of Beach Macro-Litter in Ternate Island, North Maluku – Indonesia

Abstract

Beach litter in Small Island should become a special attention issue in Indonesia. This study was carried out to provide a comprehensive dataset including calculating the quantity of beach macro-litter, determine types and concentration of debris present by materials categories, and examine the actual coast cleanliness using Clean Coast Index (CCI). Total of six beaches along the South and North of Ternate Island in September 2018 and March 2019. All surveys performed based on the guideline NOAA Marine Debris Program. All areas in sampling sites will covering used transect 100 m × 10 m as a sampling unit with two replication transects at every location. All sampled will categorize into seven groups including polymers/plastics, rubber, cloths/fabric, paper/cardboard, processed wood, metals, and glass. Overall, there are 3332 items of beach macro-litter found in all surveyed beaches. Polymers/plastics (2040 items, 61.2%) became the highest number of items, followed by glass (403 items, 12.1%), and metals (296 items, 8.9%). During the survey, the highest number of beach litter found on St.1 (1128 items) while the lowest discovered on St.3 (324 items). The abundance (items/m2) found on all beaches range from 0.04 items/m2 to 0.23 items/m2. Meanwhile, CCI on all beaches in very clean to clean category