TABLE 1 



Sampling information and recoveries of plastics from the central Pacific Ocean and South China Sea. Sampling 

 was done from 15 September through 30 October 1988. 



TABLE 2 



Occurrence and concentrations of plastics from the central Pacific 



Ocean and South China Sea. Sampling was done from 



15 September through 30 October 1988. 



Plastic" Concentrations (mg/m : ) 

 Stations Sampled at Positive Stations 



Geographic No. of No. w/ 



Range Locations 11 Plastics Mean Range 



Pacific Ocean 28 6 



South China Sea 8 7 



0.07340 0.01309-0.18566 

 0.19478 0.00126-0.69632 



■^ 



>m. M ,!,:( 



Plastic includes pellets and fragments. 

 ' Several stations were represented by more than one sample. 



In the South China Sea, seven of the eight different 

 locations sampled had plastics present in the surface water, but 

 only two of the seven had plastic pellets (Table 1 ). Most of 

 the plastics found in this area consisted of synthetic fishing 

 line and secondary, manufactured plastics in the process of 

 breaking down. Plastic concentrations in the South China 

 Sea samples were considerably greater than those found in 

 the Pacific Ocean, with a maximum concentration of 

 0.69632 mg plastic/m 2 (Table 2). Although only two stations 

 sampled had tar balls present, one of these samples contained 

 hundreds of tar balls and 164 of these were greater than 4 mm 

 in size. 



Sampling of the lagoon water at Caroline Atoll was done 

 at two locations, one in the central lagoon and the other at a 

 fixed station at the entrance channel to the lagoon. At the fixed 

 station, current flowed through the neuston net at an average 



Fig. 1 . Locations sampled along the cruise track of the Akademik Korolev, 

 September-October 1988. Sampling locations are indicated by solid 

 dots. Plastic densities at positive stations are given in mg per meter 

 square. Major currents for October 1988 are shown by the arrows. 



velocity of 4.08 cm/s. No plastics or other anthropogenic 

 materials were recovered from any of the samples at Caroline 

 Atoll (Table 1). 



The concentrations of plastics in the open Pacific Ocean 

 stations that had plastics present in the surface water were 

 below mean concentrations reported for the subtropical North 

 Pacific (Wong el al, 1974; Shaw & Mapes, 1979) and higher 

 than from other studies in the North Pacific (Day & Shaw, 

 1987). Results from this study indicate that a much greater 

 concentration of raw plastic pellets occur in the central Pacific 

 compared to the North Pacific. There are no other data from the 

 central Pacific region that can be used for temporal comparisons. 



The greater frequency of occurrence of raw material 

 plastic pellets compared to discarded plastic objects and tar 

 balls in the South China Sea was somewhat surprising. The 

 occurrence of discarded plastic may be expected from the 



195 



