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The flip-or-flop boutique: Marine debris on the shores of St Brandon's rock, an isolated tropical atoll in the Indian Ocean
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Researchers catalogued 50,000 marine debris items on St. Brandon's Rock, a remote Indian Ocean atoll, identifying Southeast Asia and the Arabian Sea region as likely source areas; 79% of items were plastic, with the presence of intact compact fluorescent lights raising concerns about long-distance mercury transport via marine debris.
Isolated coral atolls are not immune from marine debris accumulation. We identified Southeast Asia, the Indian sub-continent, and the countries on the Arabian Sea as most probable source areas of 50 000 items on the shores of St. Brandon's Rock (SBR), Indian Ocean. 79% of the debris was plastics. Flip-flops, energy drink bottles, and compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) were notable item types. The density of debris (0.74 m(-)(1) shore length) is comparable to similar islands but less than mainland sites. Intact CFLs suggests product-facilitated long-range transport of mercury. We suspect that aggregated marine debris, scavenged by the islands from currents and gyres, could re-concentrate pollutants. SBR islets accumulated debris types in different proportions suggesting that many factors act variably on different debris types. Regular cleaning of selected islets will take care of most of the accumulated debris and may improve the ecology and tourism potential. However, arrangements and logistics require more study.
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Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.