Marine Plastic Debris and Their Fate

Anthropogenic litter now enters our oceans at alarming rates with plastic making up around 80% of debris in the oceans. This chapter covers the research topics in modelling transport and fates of Marine Plastic Debris (MPD) in Jervis Bay, New South Wales, Australia and Mediterranean Sea which are semi-enclosed coastal regions in contrasting scales. The tracking of simulated particles is conducted using modelling and numerical solutions which consider MPD particles to be neutral objects that float freely within the study regions. Both studies demonstrate that significant progress has been made in research within the topic of tracking MPD particles. To continue to improve the ability of simulation to produce accurate models, focus must be directed to parameterising factors that influence a particles trajectory. It also concluded that research can no longer rely on the ability of 2D Lagrangian models and must now seek out a realistic, 3D simulation, to comment on the patterns of distribution and fate of MPD within coastal and deeper oceanographic environments.