Marine Debris on San Juan Island Beaches: Argyle Spit and Eagle Cove

Abstract

Marine debris (MD) (plastics, glass, rope, human waste, etc. that made its way into the ocean) is polluting the ocean and the shores across the world. This is a significant ecological concern due to its negative impacts on wildlife. This study focuses on marine debris on the shores of Argyle Spit and Eagle Cove, comparing the intertidal zonations, high, medium, and low, with the abundance of debris in those zones. Argyle Spit had a significant p-value when finding the most abundance of MD in the high-intertidal. Argyle Spit had a high amount of debris in the high-intertidal, but Eagle Cove did not have a significant enough p-value to say whether MD was most abundant in the high-intertidal. This is important because more MD in the high-intertidal zone can tell us how different species living in these intertidal zones at those two beaches may be more likely to interact with the MD. This can look like seabirds, sand fleas, or other high-intertidal organisms living in the same environment as MD and ingesting or absorbing the fragments and/or chemicals when exposed.