Clipperton Island
8 May, 2017
- Team Leader
- Meaghan Sorce
- Number of Participants
- 18
- Total Debris Collected
- 10 kgs (measured)
10.2833333, -109.2166667
Survey Information
- Location Name
- Clipperton Island
- Organization/Dive Centre
- Clipperton expedition: great migration 2
- City
- None
- Country
- France
- Date
- 8 May, 2017
- Survey Duration
- 60 Minutes
- GPS Coordinates
- Latitude: 10.2833333
Longitude: -109.2166667
- Weather Conditions
-
Perfect: water temperature around 29ºC
- Survey Depth Range
- 5–25 meters
- Area Surveyed
- 1000 m2
- Dominant Substrate
- coral
- Ecosystem
- coral reef
- Wave Conditions
- Smooth (wavelets) for waves 0.1 - 0.5 meter high
Survey Photos
Debris Items Collected
| plastic materials collected | |
|---|---|
| Fishing: Line | 4 |
| Fishing: Nets & Pieces Of Nets | 1 |
| other materials collected | |
|---|---|
| Long lines | 10 396 feet, about 3,16 kilometers |
| Buoys | Height of them attached to long lines |
| Hooks for shark | 18 (stainless steel) |
| Fasteners for long line | 43 (stainless steel) |
| Entangled Animals | |
|---|---|
| Crustaceans | |
| Species or Common Name | crabs |
| Number Entangled | 25 |
| Status | released unharmed |
| Type of Debris | Fishing net |
| Comments | During one dive, a rolled net was found at a depth of 45 feet. All divers came together to remove the net efficiently, lifting it to the surface using our surface marker buoys. Based on the way the net was rolled and bound, it appeared that the net was either dumped or accidentally dropped overboard. Once onboard the boat, the group banded together to search the net for marine life that had been using the net’s crevices for shelter, and returned to them to the sea. Some of the animals found, were juvenile moray eels, brittle stars, nudibranchs, and a variety of crustaceans, just to name a few. The net measured 56 feet by 9 feet, and was added to the marine debris to be taken to shore for recycling and repurposing. |
Additional Information
Illegal shark fishing
This is only the part we could manage to bring back ashore on a liveaboard ship. Collect done under France Government permit number: HC/1485/CAB We did a sampling beach clean-up also,
Comments and Feedback
On this extremely remote atoll, six transects of 5 meters width by 30 meters long have been done. On such small surface, not less than 7116 pieces of plastic have been removed, mostly bottle caps among those which could be identified.
An entire report has been written by Meaghan Sore. Any investigation, clean-up and dive activity on and around Clipperton island must be done under France permission. This is a protected area. We had the permit ( HC/1485/CAB ) to do that, hoping a huge clean-up may be done soon. As the island is so remote, only ocean current can bring the plastic and other trashes. Any clean-up will be due to be re-do after any tornado or cyclone.
