A study of marine debris along a beach at Kerteh area

Abstract

A study was conducted in a beach at Kerteh, Terengganu to gain knowledge about marine debris since marine debris is one of the pollution that are becoming serious recently. There are two objectives focused on the study which the first one is to determine the volume, composition and origin of marine debris. The second objective is to know the relation between beach profile with debris distribution. The sampling area chosen for the study is at a sandy beach which is situated at the southern part of Terengganu in the South China Sea. It involving a beach with length 800m. There are two main task done there which are marine debris collecting and beach profile measurement. The sampling was conducted in two period of month. First sampling is on April where the after monsoon season and second sampling is on October (before monsoon season). The chosen of this time is because of to make the comparison of marine debris between before and after monsoon season. The study shown there have a big different amount of debris found during before and after monsoon season which the after monsoon's debris collected is higher. Other than that, it also showed that most of the debris was drifted to the beach by seawater and plastic is the most type of debris collected. There are also showed the relationship between slope of beach and the distribution of debris. By referring to the barcode label on some debris, it showed the manufacturer of debris found. Since marine debris can give bad effect to life especially marine animals and environment, so it is very important for every body to take a part in order to reduce the debris.