Field Survey of the Distribution of Small Plastic Marine Debris Grounded on Yoshizaki Coast of Kusu-chou, Yokkaichi city

Abstract

The distribution of small plastic marine debris, called microplasctics, of Yoshizaki coast of Kusu-chou, Yokkaichi city was investigated in the spring of 2018. The number density of all the plastic fragments was 886 pieces/m². The abundant species were the plastic capsule of the chemical fertilizer, the fragment of the formed plastics, the fragment of the hard plastics and the resin pellets, in descending order. The total number of these four species accounts for the 95% of all the plastic fragments. The distribution of the microplastics was strongly concentrated at the center of the coastline, and the scatter of the number density among the measuring stations was also rather high. These suggest the necessity of measurement with substantial number of stations to assess the representative number density of the microplastics for a coast.