Results from beached debris surveys near Australian operated research stations in East Antarctica

Marine plastics are a growing threat to wildlife through, for example, ingestion causing blockages, entanglement, or the uptake of additive chemicals that interfere with animal endocrinology. Remote Antarctic areas are not exempt from the accumulation of marine debris, with transport to this region possible via oceanographic movement from distant northern sources or from local input associated with Antarctic operations. Because of the risk to the general marine ecosystem health, CCAMLR developed a marine debris monitoring program in the Convention Area and implements measures to avoid further input and mitigate against its impact. Around much of the Antarctic continent there is a lack of knowledge of the amount and type of marine debris present. Here we present initial results from beached debris surveys associated with multiple seabird breeding sites near two Australian operated Antarctic research stations – Mawson and Davis. Our expectations were for the source of debris to be: 1) Antarctic stations if there was an attenuation of debris radiating out from the station and the items related to those operations, or 2) external input from distant locations such as fisheries or marine garbage patches, if the outer side of the outer islands had the largest density of debris and, for fisheries operations, if fisheries related items were present. Most debris was found closest to research stations, with the most common categories being machined wood, plastics and pieces of metal. Most items are likely legacy items with only a small amount of additional input observed during the course of our longitudinal study. Our results highlight the need for ongoing diligence in managing waste associated with Antarctic operations to prevent it being blown across fast ice or into the marine environment by strong katabatic winds to become part of the marine debris pool. We reiterate the importance of removing large plastics from the environment before they degrade to form microplastics, and use our results to identify priority search areas for future clean-up operations.