CANADA'S MARINE DEBRIS SURVEILLANCE PROGRAM

Volunteers are continuing their work and their ongoing efforts will contribute to a long term understanding of how marine debris enters the environment. But, there is always room for more help and now it's even easier to join the research effort. Pitch-In Canada maintains a volunteer form on their web site for anyone wishing to join our research. We need to know details about the beach that you would like to survey.

This lets us determine what possible sources of debris may influence what you find. A key influence is if your beach is near human development or if it is remote. We would also need to locate it on a map, to compare your findings to things such as known shipping activity and ocean currents.

Research has been ongoing since 1995 and we, together with Pitch-In Canada, are reviewing data as it is submitted. A major concern is the scientific validity of the data; what does it actually tell us? And how certain can we be? To assist with this problem, our data is reviewed by Trevor Dixon, of Buckinghamshire College in the UK and one of the world's foremost authorities on surveying marine debris.

The reviews so far have allowed us to make changes to our research method and make life easier for the volunteers. Sites may now be visited twice a year instead of seasonally. Details are worked out with each volunteer. We have also made changes to the data forms to permits an easier recording of the amounts and types of debris observed at sites.

So what have we seen so far? As expected, various materials were found, with plastic being observed at all sites, and a range of possible sources were indicated. In discussions with Trevor Dixon, the data is currently beginning to allow us to observe differences between Canadian and foreign debris as well as debris that originates from land and debris that orginates from the ocean.

Special thanks go out to all the volunteers who are making this work possible.

Atlantic Beach Cleanups

Pacific Beach Cleanups