Marine litter monitoring programmes—A review of methods with special reference to national surveys

Monitoring of marine debris has been undertaken around the world for several years. Its purposes are as follows. 1. To provide information on the types, quantities and distribution of marine debris. 2. To provide an insight into problems and threats associated with an area. 3. To assess the effectiveness of appropriate legislation and coastal management policies. 4. To identify source of marine debris. 5. To explore public health issues relating to marine debris. 6. To increase public awareness of the condition of the coastline. Three main methods have been described, each with variations. This paper provides an overview of the approaches, the advantages and disadvantages and describes the method used by what is the largest current monitoring programme in the UK. It is concluded that no standard technique can be universally employed for monitoring studies but that the use of volunteers is essential to achieve a large-scale survey. The use of volunteers has the added advantages of capitalizing on local knowledge of the coastline being surveyed and directly involving the public in coastal management issues.