Review of CCAMLR activities on monitoring marine debris in the Convention Area

The current status of national surveys on monitoring of marine debris and their impact on marine mammals and seabirds in the Convention Area has been reviewed. The CCAMLR Marine Debris Database contains data from 11 sites, all within the Area 48 of which there are 3 sites that have data form more than 3 years, these are:
Beached Marine Debris: Chile (Cape Shirreff, Livingston Island, South Shetland Island 1993 – 97), United Kingdom (Bird Island, South Georgia 1989 - present and Signy Island South Orkney Islands 1991 - present) and Uruguay (King George Island, South Shetland Islands 2001 – present)
Debris Associated with Seabird Colonies: United Kingdom (Bird Island 1993 – present)
Marine Mammal Entanglement: United Kingdom (Bird Island 1991 - present and Signy Island 1997 - present)
Hydrocarbon Soiling: United Kingdom (Bird Island 1993 - present) Marine debris, principally packaging items, fishing gear, reached a peak in the period 1994–1996 at Bird Island and Signy Island has declined thereafter. The level of marine debris found in seabird colonies at Bird Island has continually increased, with fishing gear such as lines and hooks forming the major part of the debris. Marine mammal (Antarctic fur seal) entanglement at Bird Island reached a peak in 1993 and showed a decline until 2000 since when there has been a slight increase with packaging bands, synthetic string and longline fragments being the main entanglement material. The number of seabirds contaminated with hydrocarbons remains low.