Over the last several years, concern has increased about
the amount of man-made materials lost or discarded at
sea and the potential impacts to the environment. The
scope of the problem depends on the amounts and types
of debris. One problem in making a regional comparison
of debris is the lack of a standard methodology. The
objective of this manual is to discuss designs and methodologies for assessment studies of marine debris.
This manual has been written for managers, researchers,
and others who are just entering this area of study
and who seek guidance in designing marine debris surveys.
Active researchers will be able to use this manual
along with applicable references herein as a source for
design improvement. To this end, the authors have synthesized their work and reviewed survey techniques that
have been used in the past for assessing marine debris,
such as sighting surveys, beach surveys, and trawl surveys,
and have considered new methods (e.g., aerial photography).
All techniques have been put into a general survey
planning framework to assist in developing different marine
debris surveys. (PDF file contains 100 pages.
