Marine litter at (Al-Ghandoor area) the most northern part of the Jordanian coast of the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

Abstract

Composition and abundance of submerged marine litter at one selected site within a coral reef area along the Jordanian coast of the Gulf of Aqaba has been estimated. The litter was collected in a clean up voluntarily campaigns that took place in the period 19 September 2006. A total of 14613 items weighing 4112.2 kg were collected during the survey. Mean litter density in the individual sampling sites varied between about 1 and 6 items/m2 with an over all mean density of 2 items/m2. The mean weight of the collected items per sampling site varied between 0.06 and 1.81 kg/m2 with an overall mean of 0.85 kg/m2. Cans accounted for 41% of the collected items, plastic was the second most popular (38%) while glass litter was the third most abundant item (17%). By comparison, other items formed only 4% of the total items collected during the campaigns. Approximately 46% of the plastic litter consisted of fragments followed by bottles bags and containers (18%). Potential sources are pointed out and recommendations and actions to deal with the problem are suggested.