Marine debris problems and solutions for island communities: Perspectives from Alaska
In recent decades, public concern over the impacts of marine plastic pollution has increased dramatically.
This is evidenced in the numerous public campaigns to clean plastic waste from shorelines and reduce plastic use, as well as a growing number of research publications that shine a light on the impacts of plastic pollution in the ocean.
More recently, marine debris has been recognized not only as a pollution issue, but an issue of environmental justice, particularly for remote coastal communities worldwide.
Our work contributes to this critical evolution of marine debris research that recognizes the problem as a social and political one, as much as environmental.
Read this open access paper on the FACETS website.
This study aimed to catalyze the inclusion of local and Indigenous knowledge in marine debris solutions for St. Paul Island, a predominantly Alaska Native community in the Bering Sea.
We interviewed thirty-six St. Paul Island community members during 2017–2020 to document their observations of marine debris, including the types, amount, distribution, and impacts over recent decades.
Research participants reported increases in plastic debris since the 1980s, particularly plastic bottles, and identified fishing gear as a prevalent type of marine debris.
Overall, participants were generally aware that materials like plastics persist in the environment over multiple generations; nearly 80% expressed concern about impacts to subsistence resources, including entanglement and ingestion of plastic particles by marine mammals and fishes.
Participants described marine debris as originating largely from large-scale commercial fisheries and remote sources, yet the burden of cleaning up the debris falls largely to St. Paul Island community members themselves.
Thus, achieving environmental justice requires broader policies and mitigation strategies to address the sources of debris.
This research advances knowledge of plastic pollution’s impacts on Arctic island communities, which face unique challenges in addressing marine debris and are often overlooked in policy. Importantly, our work also centers the voices of coastal communities in understanding and defining solutions to wicked environmental issues.
Finally, our findings reflect the growing need to integrate science and advocacy in response to the marine debris issue — by documenting the observations and concerns of those most directly impacted by marine debris, this information can be included in future management plans and policies addressing the issue.
Read the paper —Including local voices in marine debris conversations to advance environmental justice for island and coastal communities: perspectives from St. Paul Island, Alaska by Veronica M. Padula, Anne H. Beaudreau, Douglas Causey, Lauren M. Divine, and Marissa Merculieff.
