Assessment of beached marine debris in the Green Island, Eritrea

Marine litters are one of the major environmental issues in the world’s oceans and seas. Thus, this study quantified and assessed the beached marine debris in the Green Island, Eritrea. A survey has been conducted consecutively for five months (from September – 2019 to January – 2020), and the Clean Coastal Index (CCI) was applied to assess the quality of the Green Island, Eritrea. The results revealed that approximately 82% of debris collected was plastics and the remaining were glass and ceramics, cloth, paper and cardboard, rubber, metal, and other materials. The sources of pollutants in the Green Island were mainly from residential and business areas along the coast of Massawa port. In addition, the concentration of debris increased during holiday celebration and related activities. The CCI value was fluctuated monthly and with transects, where the first three transects detected as dirty quality in the first and the last month of sampling, however, the CCI of the total average marine debris was about 8.23. Therefore, based on the CCI assessment, Green Island is considered as a moderate quality.