Proposal of the method to reduce the standing stock of marine litter

Abstract

Effective plans and strategies for mitigating the marine litter issue need to be implemented. It is crucial to have a comprehensive budget in an effort towards addressing this issue. The marine litter budget in the Seto Inland Sea that was the largest closed water area in Japan was therefore estimated. It was realized that, effective and dramatic reduction of marine litter standing stock in this area will be difficult, if promotion of litter collection and prevention of stock build up are the only strategies. Based on these findings, reduction of the marine litter standing stock, effective collection process and sustainable mitigating efforts through the social marketing method are here by discussed.