Prevent garbage and solid waste from reaching the marine environment

Overall effectiveness category No evidence found (no assessment)
Number of studies: 0
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Background information and definitions

Garbage (litter) and solid waste can enter the marine environment through a multitude of pathways, for instance vessels, rivers, storms, beaches, fishing activities. Once in the marine environment, garbage can accumulate and subsist for a long time due to very slow degradation (Andrady 2015; Connan et al. 2021; Pham et al. 2014) and in some case (e.g. derelict fishing gear, so called ‘ghost’ gear) cause direct harm to corals (Ballesteros et al. 2018, Figueroa-Pico et al. 2020).

A range of options exist for reducing the amount of garbage and solid waste that reaches the marine environment. For example, installing stormwater traps or grids to prevent garbage for entering stormwaters (Armitage & Rooseboom 2000), enforcing regulations around discarding of waste in coastal and aquatic environments, providing facilities for easy disposal of waste (e.g. fishing gear) or offering incentives for reusing or recycling fishing gear. This action includes studies that report the effects of preventing garbage and solid waste from reaching the marine environment. Studies that report the effect of actions aimed at removing garbage and solid waste are described in Remove garbage and solid waste from the marine environment.

^{Andrady A.L. (2015) Persistence of plastic litter in the oceans. Pages 57–72 in: Marine anthropogenic litter. Springer, Cham.}

^{Armitage N. & Rooseboom A. (2000) The removal of urban litter from stormwater conduits and streams: Paper 1- The quantities involved and catchment litter management options. Water SA, 26, 181–188. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/AJA03784738_2350}

^{Ballesteros, L. V., Matthews, J. L., & Hoeksema, B. W. (2018). Pollution and coral damage caused by derelict fishing gear on coral reefs around Koh Tao, Gulf of Thailand. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 135, 1107-1116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.08.033.}

^{Connan M., Perold V., Dilley B.J., Barbraud C., Cherel Y. & Ryan P.G. (2021) The Indian Ocean ‘garbage patch’: Empirical evidence from floating macro-litter. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 169, 112559. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112559.}

^{Figueroa-Pico J., Tortosa F.S. & Carpio A.J. (2020) Coral fracture by derelict fishing gear affects the sustainability of the marginal reefs of Ecuador. Coral Reefs, 39, 819–827.}

^{Pham C.K., Ramirez-Llodra E., Alt C.H., Amaro T., Bergmann M., Canals M., Davies J., Duineveld G., Galgani F., Howell K.L. & Huvenne V.A. (2014) Marine litter distribution and density in European seas, from the shelves to deep basins. PloS One, 9, p.e95839. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0095839.}

Key messages

We found no studies that evaluated the effects on corals of preventing garbage and solid waste from reaching the marine environment.

‘We found no studies’ means that we have not yet found any studies that have directly evaluated this action during our systematic journal and report searches. Therefore, we have no evidence to indicate whether or not the action has any desirable or harmful effects.

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Please cite as:

Thornton A., Morgan, W.H., Bladon E.K., Smith R.K. & Sutherland W.J. (2024) Coral Conservation: Global evidence for the effects of actions. Conservation Evidence Series Synopsis. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

All the journals searched for all synopses

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Coral Conservation

Related Actions

Actions	Effectiveness	Category
Change to fishing gear made from biodegradable materials Action Link	No evidence found (no assessment)	Synopsis Link
Remove garbage and solid waste from the marine environment Action Link	No evidence found (no assessment)	Synopsis Link
Prevent garbage and solid waste from reaching the marine environment Action Link	No evidence found (no assessment)	Synopsis Link