Marine Debris Project Final Report 2014

for identification and sorting. These data were then entered into the national marine debris onlinedatabase.ResultsComparison between citizen science and scientist conducted transectsCSIRO scientific staff completed 575 transects at 172 coastal sites around Australia (Figure 8). 156transects and 41 emu parades over 56 sites were undertaken by citizen scientists (Table 1). Thecitizen scientist transects involved adults, primary and secondary school students. The adults weremostly Shell employees or teachers who had undertaken a one-day or a one-week trainingprogram on marine debris and data collection and interpretation (Table 1). Project staff attendedfield excursions and participated in all transects and emu parades made by citizen scientists.However, most were led by the teaching staff from the school or institution involved.Density of debrisThe density of debris detected and counted during citizen scientist and project transects weresimilar (P>0.7) (Figure 9). However, on emu parades a higher density of debris was observed thanwas observed by professional and citizen scientists undertaking transects (P