Shore litter along sandy beaches of the Gulf of Oman

Beach debris abundance and weight were estimated from surveys on 11 beaches of the Gulf of Oman along the Omani coast. Debris were collected on two occasions from 100 m transects, sorted and categorized by origin and type. Overall contaminations ranged from 0.43 to 6.01 items m−1 of beach front on different beaches with a mean value of 1.79 ± 1.04 g m−1 (95% C.I). In terms of weight, contamination levels ranged from 7.8 to 75.44 g m−1 of beach front with a mean contamination of 27.02 ± 14.48 g m−1 (95% C.I). In terms of numbers of items, plastic debris ranked first on all beaches followed by either wood items or other organic materials such as cigarette butts. Industrial debris remained few on all beaches (<10%). Most debris had a local origin and, in terms of numbers, were associated with beach recreational activities whereas fishing debris represented the largest proportion of the debris in terms of weight. There were notable differences between beaches in the relative abundance of recreation-related and fishing-related debris.