A Survey of Marine Coastal Litters around Zhoushan Island, China and Their Impacts

Abstract

Rapid development of the economy increased marine litter around Zhoushan Island. Social-ecological scenario studies can help to develop strategies to adapt to such change. To investigate the present situation of marine litter pollution, a stratified random sampling (StRS) method was applied to survey the distribution of marine coastal litters around Zhoushan Island. A univariate analysis of variance was conducted to access the amount of litter in different landforms that include mudflats, artificial and rocky beaches. In addition, two questionnaires were designed for local fishermen and tourists to provide social scenarios. The results showed that the distribution of litter in different landforms was significantly different, while the distribution of litter in different sampling points had no significant difference. The StRS survey showed to be a valuable method for giving a relative overview of beach litter around Zhoushan Island with less effort in a future survey. The questionnaire feedbacks helped to understand the source of marine litter and showed the impact on the local environment and economy. Based on the social-ecological scenarios, governance recommendations were provided in this paper.

The first assessment of marine litter on Somalian coast: The case of Liido Beach, Mogadishu

“…In overall, the litter density ranged from 2.19 items/m 2 to 14.18 items/m 2 with a mean of 6.25 items/m 2 . These results are higher than the value obtained at the Columbian Central Caribbean Beaches (5.11 items/m 2 ), the Zhoushan Island, and the Adriatic and Ionian Beaches (0.67 items/m 2 ) by Rangel-Buitrago et al [ 55 ], Ma et al [ 54 ], and Vlachogianni et al [ 60 ] respectively. Perez-Venegas et al [ 58 ] recorded a litter density of 0.001 items/m 2 on Guafo Island (Chile) while Duhec et al [ 27 ] reported 4.7 items/m 2 on Alphonse Island (Seychelles), and 3.3 items/100 m 2 was recorded by Melli et al [ 61 ].…”

“…The data collected from the surveys were subjected to descriptive statistics (mean and range) and percentage litter compositions were estimated. To determine the abundance of litter items per unit area and relative severity of the litter pollution compared to other beaches, Litter Density (LD) and Clean Coast Index (CCI) were estimated using the formula by Ma et al [ 54 ] and Rangel-Buitrago et al [ 55 ] respectively. where LD is the density of litter items/m 2 , N is the number of litter items recorded; W and L are the Width and Length of the sampling unit (transect), respectively.…”

Groundwater Response to Tide Fluctuation and Rainfall in Coastal Reclamation Area

“…Site Description. Zhoushan Island (ZSI) is the major island in the Zhoushan Archipelago, located in the coastal area of the eastern Zhejiang province of China [52,53]. Its terrain is mainly composed of central hill range, surrounding plains, and tidal flat wetlands.…”

UAV Approach for Detecting Plastic Marine Debris on the Beach: A Case Study in the Po River Delta (Italy)

“…Surveys at sea can sample floating [18] and suspended debris using a manta trawl net or sample litter on the seabed [19] with submersibles or remote-operated vehicles or trawling equipment. However, most of the studies show that AMD accumulates along beaches, and hence beach surveys [20,21] are not only necessary but also represent the most common monitoring method for macro-debris. That said, beach cleanups can alter litter loads and abundance on beaches, and beach dynamics can introduce additional variables in monitoring changes in the amount and composition of plastic debris [22].…”