Distribution of Floating Debris in the North Pacific Ocean: Sighting Surveys 1986–1991

Abstract

The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and the Japan Meteorological Agency identified the necessity of monitoring marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean, and in its adjacent waters, in the early 1970s. In conjunction with the IOC's Global Investigation of the Pollution in the Marine Environment (GIPME), the Japan Meteorological Agency started a marine debris sighting survey in 1972.