A decade of change in nets and plastic litter from fisheries off Alaska |
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Authors: | Theodore R Merrell |
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Institution: | Northwest and Alaska Fisheries Center Auke Bay Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, PO Box 210155, Auke Bay, AK 99821, USA |
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Abstract: | Ten 1 km beaches on Amchitka Island, Alaska, were surveyed once annually in 1972–1974 and in 1982 to determine weights and numbers of fish-net fragments and other plastic litter items. Most litter was from Japanese and Soviet fishing vessels. Litter rapidly increased during 1972–74 (from 122 to 345 kg km?1 of beach) but decreased 26% by 1982 to 255 kg km?1. There was a 37% reduction in weight of trawl web on Amchitka beaches, and the number of gill-net floats declined 47%. The decrease in litter between 1974 and 1982, attributed to fewer trawlers and gill-netters fishing off Alaska, shows that marine litter could be rapidly reduced if disposal of litter at sea were restricted. |
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