Daily accumulation rates of marine litter in Pulau Rambut Wildlife Sanctuary, Jakarta Bay, Indonesia

Abstract

Studies showed that the amount of marine litter is linked with unmanaged litter entering the ocean. Some marine litter could be stranded on small uninhabited islands, including on Pulau Rambut (25 ha), a wildlife sanctuary for waterbirds that consists of mangroves, beaches, and forests located near Jakarta Bay, where 13 rivers from Jakarta ended in the bay. The aim of this study was to identify the daily accumulation of marine litter (classified into non-organic and organic) that is stranded and trapped on this island. Shoreline surveys for the sandy beach (25 m x 7 m plot) and beach forest (25 cm x 6 cm), as well as visual surveys for mangroves (20 m x 4 m; 2 plots), were employed, repeated for 9 times within 17 days. Of 14,610 litter items collected, 14,585 items were non-organic, dominated by foam and plastic. The accumulation rates were 433,5 items/day for non-organic litter and 0,5 items/day for organic litter. The sandy beach and beach forest accumulated higher marine litters compared to mangroves.