Coastal litter in Ísafjörður, Iceland : exploring marine litter through science, ecofeminist theory, and art

• Main Author: Durovich, Graeme Lincoln, 1992-
• Other Authors: Háskólinn á Akureyri
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Meistaraprófsritgerðir; Háskólasetur Vestfjarða; Haf- og strandsvæðastjórnun; Sorp; Sjávarmengun; Coastal and marine management; Marine Environment; University Centre of the Westfjords; Long Beach; Haf; Ísafjörður; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/31314

The ubiquity of litter, particularly plastics, in the marine environment has gained increasing attention and concern from scientists, governments and society as a whole, due to its health, economic and aesthetic impacts. This is one of few quantitative temporal studies of macro-litter in Iceland. In addition to a case study, it explores the dynamics of human – nature relationships pertaining to marine litter through theories of ecofeminism, slow violence, agency, and personhood. This theoretical framework highlights humans’ complicity in a culture of marine litter pollution, drawing parallels to complicity in rape culture. For the case study, a detailed survey was conducted on the characteristics and dynamics of coastal and urban litter on a 550-meter long beach in Ísafjörður, a small Icelandic town (population: 2614) heavily impacted by fishing. All visible litter within two beach transects was sampled 2-4 times a week April-August. One transect was a sand beach and the other was the inland side of a rock armor seawall. Litter in the beach transect was tidally replenished and affected by storm events and prevailing winds. Litter in the rock armor transect was almost exclusively local and its occurrence was low once the initial pre-sampling period was completed. The most prevalent material of sampled items in both transects were plastics (sand beach: 78.9%; rock armor: 66.2%), and the most common identifiable sources were from fisheries and boating (40.8% of all items within the beach transect) and packaging related to inhabitants and tourists (30.3% of all rock armor transect items). Within the sand beach transect, five percent of the litter was related to the local, non-treated sewage discharge. Based on these findings, it appears the rock armor seawall acts to some degree as a barrier preventing urban litter from entering the marine environment. Thus annual cleanups prior to the winter storms could have a positive mitigation effect and also prevent the macro-plastic from entering the ocean, eventually ...