Preliminary studies of man-made litter in the Firth of Forth, Scotland

Marine Pollution Bulletin Seaport Department for all phases, especially Carmen Lunetta Director, Claude Bullock and Raymond Keough Dade County Department of Environmental Management is thanked for detailed design and supervision of Phase I and II (Anthony Clemente, Ed Swakon, and Gary Mdano) and coordmauon of Phase III (Drs Jeffry Marcus and Jay Blowers) Connell Associates, Inc is thanked for quanutatt~e counts of mortality The author particularly acknowledges the field logistics work of Fitzgerald Booker In Phase II and III Peter Gayle m IV, Gary Beardsly in winter II and Brian Flynn and George Townsend in I and II Fitzgerald Booker ~s thanked for his substantial responslbihty for our quantitative analysis of data and administrative coordination m Phases 1 and II, Dr Patsy McLaughhn for admmlstranon m Ill and IV Jack P Attias is thanked for legal work and mr transport ot scedhngs Luts Ajamll of Post, Bucklcy Schuh and Jermgan v,as mstrumental in original concept, test plot programme, and all of the mechanized extraction

Allen, R (ed) (1980) World Conservation Strategy International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, United Nanons Enwronment Programme, and World Wildlife Fund (IUCN-UNEP-WWF) Gland, Switzerland Connell Associates Inc (1982) Port of Mmml Seagrass Restoration ProJect Qualitative Monthly Survival Momtonng Report (August 1982) pp 1-23 Metropohtan Dade County, Florida McLaughhn P, Treat, S Thorhaug A & Lemaltre, R (1983) A

restored seagrass (Thalass~a) bed and its animal commumty Enwron Conserv 10,247-254 Perez, A, Ajamtl, L, Lunetta, C, Reed, M & Brown, N (1983) Environmental protection program for the expansion of the Port of Miami, Florida In Am Soc Coastal Engineers Conf Proc Coastal Zone 83, San Diego, Cahforma Phillips, R (1982) Seagrass meadows In Creation and Restoranot, o] Coastal Plant Communute~ (R R Lewis ed) pp 173-201 CRC Press, Boca Raton, Ftortda Thorhaug A (1974) Transplantation o! the ,,cagrass Thalassta testudmum Komg Aquaculture4, 177-183 Thorhaug, A (ed) (1976) Blscayne Bay Past/Present/Future, pp 1315 Umverslt', ot Miami Sea Grant Special Report (5), Coral Gables, Florida Thorhaug, A (1977) Restoration ot major plant communities in the Umtcd States a summary Emtron Conserv 4 49-50 Thorhaug A (1980) Environmental management of a highly impacted, urbamzed tropical estuary rehabilitation and restoration Hel~olander Meeresunter~uchungen33 614-623 Thorhaug, A (1983) Habitat restoranon atter ptpchne eonstrucnon in a tropical estuary Seagrasses Mar Pollut Bull 14,422-425 Thorhaug, A (1985) Large-scale s~.agra~s restoranon m a damaged estuary Mar Pollut Bull 16, 55-62 Thorhaug A (1986) Review of seagrass restoranon efforts Ambto 15 110-117 Thorhaug, A, Miller, B, Jupp, B & Booker, F (1985) Effects of a ,,anew ot Lmpacts on scagrass restoranon m Jamaica Mar Polha Bull 16 355-360

MarmePollunonBulletmVolume18 No 8 pp 446-45(I 19,q7 PnntedInGreatBritain

0025-326X/87$3 oo+l)oo © 1987PergamonJournalsLtd

Preliminary Studies of Man-made Litter in the Firth of Forth, Scotland ERIC CAULTON and MARINA MOCOGNI D e p a r t m e n t o f Btologwal Sctences, Napter College, Edinburgh, E H IO 5DT, Scotland

Short-term studies on man-made litter deposited on t h e beaches of the Edinburgh coastline o f t h e F i r t h of F o r t h , S c o t l a n d , have demonstrated that containers of all k i n d s , plastic b a g s , plastic sheeting and clothing, comprise the main and dominant c o m p o n e n t s of t h e n i n e t e e n c a t e g o r i e s of litter analysed. Most of the litter is of local origin e i t h e r d e p o s i t e d in situ or washed ashore from neighbouring water's-edge tips. Very little evidence was f o u n d of litter washed ashore b e i n g of foreign origin o r having b e e n t i p p e d overboard from ships at sea. M u c h of the smaller items of litter are discarded by visitors to the b e a c h . T h e s o l u t m n to the problem is seen as one of education at all levels rather t h a n ineffective punitive measures

M a n t i m e m a n - m a d e htter ~s a f o r m of p o l l u t i o n which has received increasing, t h o u g h b y no m e a n s c o n s i d e r able, a t t e n t i o n m r e c e n t y e a r s T h a t it is a w o r l d - w i d e p r o b l e m was h l g h h g h t e d m the 1950s b y T h o r H e y e r d a h l m his K o n t i k l a n d R a a v o y a g e s a n d m o r e recently in analytmal studies, such as t h o s e of C u n d e l l (1973), D i x o n & D i x o n ( 1 9 8 3 ) , F e d e r et al (1978), M e r r e l l (1984), S h a u g h n e s s y (1980), S l u b e r (1979), 446

V e n n c k et al (1973), a n d W i l l o u g h b y (1986) British w o r k m this a r e a of p o l l u t i o n has b e e n p i o n e e r e d b y the studies o f T r e v o r D i x o n m the south of E n g l a n d , the English C h a n n e l a n d the N o r t h Sea ( D i x o n & C o o k e , 1976, D i x o n & D i x o n , 1980, 1983) In S c o t l a n d l o c a l i z e d studies have b e e n u n d e r t a k e n by C r a n s t o n (1972) a n d J o n e s & Crofts (1980) a n d the C l y d e Raver P u r i f i c a t i o n B o a r d ( 1 9 7 3 - 7 5 ) C a t e g o r i e s of b e a c h c o n t a r m n a t l o n a n d a classification of b e a c h e s were p u b l i s h e d b y the L o t h l a n s Raver P u n f i c a t i o n B o a r d (1974) In r e c e n t years, several s h o r t - t e r m s t u d e n t p r o j e c t s have f o c u s e d o n the m a r i t i m e litter m the F~rth of F o r t h a l o n g the E d i n b u r g h coastline T h e l o n g e r - t e r m (6 m o n t h s ) s t u d y b a s e d on C r a m o n d Village n e a r E d i n b u r g h was u n d e r t a k e n by M o c o g m m 1984 a n d f o r m s much of the s u b s t a n c e of th~s c o m mumcatlon C r a m o n d ( G r i d R e f N T 192771) hes s o m e 7 24 k m (4! mites) to the n o r t h west of E d i n b u r g h city centre (Fig 1) and lies at the c o n f l u e n c e of the Raver A l m o n d a n d the Firth, the f o r m e r f o r n n n g the w e s t e r n b o u n d a r y of the village C r a m o n d Island, offshore, is j o i n e d to the e a s t e r n e n d o f the c o n f l u e n c e b y a b r e a k w a t e r which gwes p e d e s t n a n access to the island at low w a t e r (Fig

2)

"volume 18/Number 8/August 1987

Liner has been a major problem at Cramond for a called 'west', 'mid' and 'east' respectively Within each of considerable time (Figs 3, 4), mamfestxng itself in the three 100 m transects, five parallel belt transects particular along the foreshore and upper beach, as well were laid down beglnmng at the strandhne and as the perimeter car park There is no doubt that in part extending sequentially upwards towards the esplanade this litter has ~ts origin in the local and visiting popula- The belt transects were at 5 m intervals, each belt being tion However a considerable fraction is washed ashore 1 m wide These were coded 'SL' (Strand-hne), 'TI-T 4' from the estuarlne tides in the Firth Geographically the Thus a total surface area of 1500 m 2 was surveyed on Ftrth of Forth occupies an important position w~th each occasion The survey and assessment of litter was regard to commercial and mlhtary traffic Together with carried out by a uniform method, which involved the legion of pleasure craft operating from the walking along the length of each transect and recording numerous coastal harbours along the estuary, the Firth on data sheets the categories of htter present In all is a busy maritime highway there were mneteen categories of litter three containertype and the non-container-type (Table 1) Litter was not removed so that the results obtained record the Methods total loading of litter rather than the weekly Input Data The survey of Cramond beach was carried out in sheets were based on those used by Dixon and Roper in April-October, 1984 In all, twenty six visits were made their Refuse and Litter Survey (Dixon & Roper, t980) to the beach, always on a Monday, just after h~gh tide For the purpose of the survey a 300 m length of beach was measured, starting from the breakwater (Fig 2) This transect was divided into three zones of 100 m,

56N "Cramond

Fig 1 Location map

Fig 2 Cramond beach--sampling sites

Ftg 3 Cramond foreshore following gale force winds during the winter of 1969

447

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7/5 4./6 2; 7 6/8 3/9 1/10 A M d d A S 0 Fig 6 Contamer htter at Cramond, April-October, 1984 TABLE 1 Categories of Litter Container Litter

Non-Container L~tter

Metal

Paper Cardboard Plasnc fragments Plasuc bags/sheeting Glass Metal Wood Shotgun cartridges

Paper/Card

Plasuc F,g 4 Cramond foreshore durmg the summer of 1984

Confect tonary wrappings

Containers

Paper

' k ~ s t Ic fragments

V

Ptasttc bags/sheeting \

I

Wtre

[]

I~

Rope

I~

F,sh,ngt,ne

Fishing net

/

[]

Merit

[---]Shotgun cartridges

J~

GLass

L~t Wood

B

Cordboard

Fig 5 Percentage composmon of total htter at Cramond

An addmonal container-category specially designed for this survey

data

sheet

Paper/Plastic cup~ Confectlonary wrappmgs Other

was

Results The litter recorded reflects a slrmlar pattern to elsewhere in the U K and typifies the litter of a consumer-orientated society with ItS emphasis on prepackaged goods The percentage composition of all types of litter recorded IS shown in Fig 5 The four major components of litter at Cramond were found to be containers of all kinds, plastic bags, sheeting, etc, 448

Wtre Clothmg

clothing and confectionery wrappings The weekly pattern of the Container and Non-Container (confectionery wrappings and paper/plastic cups--which were found to be highly correlated) categories is shown in Figs 6, 7 The drop In the total numbers of observations recorded at the end of June 1984 In Fig 6, was the result of a local authority cleamng-up operation following a printed interview (Caulton, 1984) The subsequent (input) pattern, though quantitatively lower, was essentially the same as the pre-cleanng period The onset of colder weather in late September and October in 1984, reduced the numbers of visitors to the beach area with a consequent sharp reduction in the litter load The maximum and mean weekly observations for the period are detailed in Fig 8 An attempt to establish an Index of denstty of litter was made, relating the number of observations in each category to the unit area of study, in each of the three zones The data of tins exercise are given in Table 2 The effect of the presence of the breakwater on the deposition of tide-borne litter was clearly demonstrated with the higher denstties of the five major components of the litter observed occurring in the west zone

plastic

Ctothmg

Fishing net Fmhmg hne Rope

Discussion The litter found during the six-month study was both extensive and Intensive The origin of the litter appears to be due to 1 m s t t u deposition, 2 tidal wash from the opposite shore and/or from other sections of the southern coastline of the Firth, and 3 litter tipped at sea and brought up to Cramond on the lncormng tides Evidence to support the second origin was vividly shown in a student study at Seafield, where an Industrial tip, augmented by local tipping of domestic rubbish due

Volume 18/Number 8/August 1987 TABLE 2 Index of density of classified litter

Type of htter

Index of density (E + M + W)

Position

E M W E M W E M W

445 478 416 122 128 91 154 182 142

51 500

0 034

13 115

0 009

18 385

0 012

E M W

721 788 649

83 001

0 055

E M W E M W E M W E M W E M W E M W E M W E M W E M W E M W E M W E M W E M W E M W E M W E M W

116 137 215 45 47 86 331 444 638 533 637 1032 40 45 33 31 34 32 14 20 20 5 12 26 47 56 90 74 92 194 35 42 82 13 5 25 284 473 980 203 196 211 416 522 536 210 258 359

18 000

0 012

6 847

0 004

54 346

0 036

84 692

0 056

4 538

0 003

3 731

0 002

2 076

0 001

1 654

0 001

7 966

0 005

13 846

0 009

6 115

0 004

1 654

0001

66 807

0 044

23 461

0 016

56 692

0 038

31 808

0 021

Containers Metal

Paper/card

Plastic

All types

Non-containers Paper

Cardboard

Plastic fragments

Plasuc bags/sheeting

Glass

Metal

Wood

Shotgun carmdges

Fishing net

Flsbang line

Rope

Wire

Clothing

Paper/Plastic cups

Confeeuonary wrappings

Other finds

* Index of density

Observations per visit (E + M + W)

Total obser~auons

)( observations per ,,islt total area

to access~blhty from the nearby road, was lapped at high tide and water-soaked rubbish was floated off and carried westwards (up-F~rth), to be deposited at Cramond (the breakwater effect) Only a httle evidence has pointed so far to the o n g m from shipping at sea E~ght overseas containers were recovered and ~dent~fied

at Stlverknowes in another student project m 1985 In sttu deposmon plays a prormnent part tn the depos~hon of htter at Cramond There ~s evidence of dumpmg, e g the concentration of clothing of all kinds at the western end of the beach The problem of htter on the beaches m the Firth of 449

Marine Pollution Bulletin •

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Confectionery wrapping

o Paper / plastic cuds

_o

X"

2

4

6

8

I0

12 }

]

I

I4

/\

I6

Week ' no

A

M

J

J

I8

20

22

24

26

t

A

I

S

I

0

F~g 7 Confectlonary wrappings and paper/plastic cups in Cramond, Aprd-Oetober, 1984 180

180 --

Non-containers

160

160 --

i4o

140

12o

120

iO0

I00

-~ ao

80

60

60

40

40

Containers Max no observed T in any one week OveraLl mean

--

•

/

Mm no o b s e r v e d / ~n any one week _L

o > u~

20

20

f

Other

Net LmeRop e

T

Begs

P~Pe~ard

Wire Clothing

Cups

I

Metal

Glass Metal

Plosttc fracjments

l

• Paper

Plastic

Wood

Cartons

Confectioner y

wrapplngs

Fig 8 Weekly observations of htter loadmgs at Cramond, April-October, 1984 F o r t h a r e a w o u l d a p p e a r to b e in p a r t t h e result o f u n a u t h o n s e d d u m p i n g o f l a r g e q u a n t m e s of m a t e r i a l s s u c h as c l o t h i n g , s a n i t a r y t o w e l s , etc a n d in p a r t d u e to the d r o p p i n g o f s m a l l i t e m s s u c h as soft d r i n k s c a n s a n d s w e e t w r a p p e r s etc b y vzsitors to t h e b e a c h V e r y little litter c o m e s f r o m o v e r s e a s via tidal w a s h T h e s o l u U o n to t h e p r o b l e m o f b e a c h a n d i n l a n d h t t e r g e n e r a l l y in t h e U K w o u l d s e e m to lie m e f f e c t i v e p r o p a g a n d a a n d e d u c a t i o n at all levels m c a n n g f o r t h e enwronment, rather than relying on unenforceable penalties

Grateful acknowledgements are made to the following Miss Jen Harvey (Figs 1, 2), Mr Barclay Fraser of the Cramond Association (Fig 3), Mr Waiter Lewicka (formerly of the authors' department) (Figs 5-7), and Mr Robin Henderson for statistical advice

Caulton, E (1984) Press Interview Report "The Unacceptable Face of Edinburgh" Edinburgh Evemng News (16 June) Clyde River Purification Board (1973-1975) Condmon of beaches Pollution by solids, in Irwne Bay Joint Survey 1973-75, a series of techmcal reports for the CRPB and the ICI, Bnxham Laboratory, for the Strathclyde Regmnal Council 450

Cranston, A M (1972) Problems of Litter and Solid Waste Disposal in Rural Scotland Unpublished MSc Thesis Herlot-Watt Umverslty Cundell, A M (1973) Plastic Materials accumulating m Narrangansett Bay Mar Pollut Bull 4, 187-188 Dixon, T R & Cooke A J (1976) Discarded Containers on a Kent Beach Keep Britain Tidy Group Report Dxxon, I R & Cooke, A J (1977) Discarded Containers on a Kent Beach Mar Pollut Bull 8,105-109 Dtxon, T R &Dtxon, J (1980) Marine Litter Research Programme (Stage 2) Keep Bntam Ttdy Campmgn Report Dtxon, T J & Dixon, T R (1983) Marine Litter Dtstnbutlon and composition in the North Sea Mar Pollut Bull 14,145-148 Dixon, T R & Roper, J R (1980) National Shoreline Refuse and L~tter Survey--Stage 2 Marine L~tter Surveillance Scheme for the Brmsh Isles Keep Britain Tidy Group/Sunday Times Watch Feder, M M, Je~ett, S C & Mflsmger, J R (1978) Man-made debris on the Bering Sea floor Mar Pollut Bull 9, 52-53 Jones, H E & Crofts, R S (1980) Lttter a Review of the Problem and Approaches towards its Reducuon Scottish Development Department Central Research Umt Lottuans Rwer Purification Board (1974) Annual Report 96-07 Merrell, T R Jr (1984) A decade of change m nets and plastic litter from fisheries off Alaska Mar Pollut Bull 15,378-384 Shaughnessy, P D (1980) Entanglement of Cape Fur Seals with Manmade objects Mar Pollut Bull 11,332-336 Shlber, J G (1979) Plastic pellets on the coast of Lebanon Mar Pollut Bull 10, 28-30 Vennck, E L, Backman, T W, Bartram, W C, Thorntull, M S & Yates, R E (1973) Man-made objects on the surface of the Central North Pacific Ocean Nature, Land 241,271 Willoughby, N G (1986) Man-made Litter on the Shores of the Thousand Island Archipelago, Java Mar Pollut Bull 17,224-228