Marine Debris Education
Marine Debris: Facts and Figures Saturday, 16 February 2008 18:18 |  Written by Nick Yahoo |  |  | 
Marine Debris; what is it and where does it come from?
Simply put Marine Debris can be described as "garbage, trash, and litter that is in the water"[3]. A more detailed description is that given by en.wikipedia.org; "Marine debris usually applies to floating waste such as bottles, cans, styrofoam, cruise ship waste, offshore oil and gas exploration and production facilities pollution, and fishing paraphernalia from professional and recreational boaters. Marine debris is also called litter. It can enter the water directly through dumping into bodies of water or indirectly through runoff via rivers and streams. Marine debris threatens both marine life and coastal human habitations." [1] [2] Last Updated (Friday, 06 August 2010 20:22)
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There are several definitions of marine debris from different sources that identify marine debris in differing degrees of detail. Each definition aims to describe the presence of unnatural matter in our oceans.
Under Key Threatening Processes in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), “harmful marine debris” is defined as consisting of: “…land sourced plastic garbage, fishing gear from recreational and commercial fishing abandoned into the sea, and ship sourced, solid non biodegradable floating materials disposed of at sea.”
18,000 pieces of plastic litter are floating on every square kilometre of the world's oceans.
A 1997 study found that at least 267 species have been affected by marine debris worldwide, including 86% of all sea turtle species, 44% of all seabird species, and 43% of all marine mammal species, as well as numerous fish and crustaceans.