Eds., K. Omori, X. Guo, N. Yoshie, N. Fujii, I.... © by TERRAPUB, 2011.

Interdisciplinary Studies on Environmental Chemistry—Marine Environmental Modeling & Analysis,
Eds., K. Omori, X. Guo, N. Yoshie, N. Fujii, I. C. Handoh, A. Isobe and S. Tanabe, pp. 261–269.
© by TERRAPUB, 2011.
Deep-Sea Litter Study Using Deep-Sea Observation Tools
Hiroshi MIYAKE1,2, Haruka SHIBATA1 and Yasuo FURUSHIMA2
1
Kitasato University, Okirai 160-4, Sanriku, Ofunato, Iwate 022-0101, Japan
2
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC),
Natsushima-cho 2-15, Yokosuka, Kanagawa 237-0061, Japan
(Received 1 November 2010; accepted 20 December 2010)
Abstract—Marine litter is a big social problem that crosses national boundaries.
Little is known about how deep-sea litter is distributed and how it accumulates,
and moreover how it affects the deep-sea floor and deep-sea animals.
The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
operates many deep-sea observation tools, e.g., manned submersibles, ROVs,
AUVs and deep-sea observatory systems. Over 4860 deep-sea dives of these
research submersibles have been conducted. All dives have been recorded on
videotape and stored as a film library. Some of them have been listed in a
database and opened to the public via the WEB. Deep-sea litter can be found
on that video footage and in the database. We can observe changes of deep-sea
litter accumulation across the years using the film library and can collect deepsea litter in situ with environmental data and samples using research
submersibles. It is essential for deep-sea litter studies to use such deep-sea
observation systems and the data collected in past times from deep-sea
observation systems.
Keywords: deep-sea litter, ROV, submersible, AUV, Video analysis
INTRODUCTION
Marine litter, in particular floating and beach litter are recognized as big social
problems that cross national boundaries (Criddle et al., 2009; Galgani et al.,
2010). This litter is visible, therefore anyone who sees litter at sea or on the beach
can easily realize the seriousness of the matter. Therefore, many studies and
activities have been conducted concerning such maritime litter. However, floating
litter can sink to the bottom, because of degradation or attachment of biofilms of
bacteria, algae and large sessile organisms, predation by animals or for other
unknown reasons (Moore et al., 2001; Graham and Thompson, 2009; Gregory,
2009; Ryan et al., 2009; Webb et al., 2009; Jacobsen et al., 2010; Law et al.,
2010). Marine litter on the sea floor is not visible to the public, and this invisible
character has kept our focus away from litter on the sea floor. Seabed litter has
been studied from shallow waters to the deep-sea floor. Studies of litter of the sea
floor have been conducted by snorkeling, SCUBA, trawl surveys, sonar, and
submersibles and ROVs (Galgani et al., 1996, 2000; Spengler and Costa, 2008;
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Table 1. Number of deep-sea dives from April, 1982 to August, 2010.
Research submersibles
Shinkai 2000 (retired)
Dolphin-3K (retired)
Shinkai 6500
Kaiko (retired) and Kaiko-7000II
Hyper-Dolphin
Number of dives
1411
576
1216
481
1177
Keller et al., 2010; Watters et al., 2010). Surveys using snorkeling and SCUBA
are limited to shallow waters and small areas. Surveys using sonar are good for
searching over large areas but are not high in resolution (Stevens et al., 2000;
Spengler and Costa, 2008). Using ROVs or submersibles entails high costs and
it is therefore difficult to use these submersibles or ROVs multiple times. Studies
on the sea floor typically focus on continental shelves. The best way is a trawl
survey, because it covers a large area and can collect a large amount of litter for
analysis (Spengler and Costa, 2008). However, research into the deeper sea floor
is restricted and information about in situ deep-sea benthic litter comes only from
the visual data using deep-sea observation tools like submersibles. Since 1996,
submersibles or ROVs have been used to investigate benthic litter on the
continental slope and at abyssal depths (Galgani et al., 1996, 2000; Watters et al.,
2010). Watters et al. (2010) showed quantitative data for benthic litter (20~365
m depth) off California using the submersible Delta by analyzing the archived
video for the dives. The study demonstrated that submersibles and the video
archive of their dives were effective tools for deep-sea litter research. However
that study did not cover deeper sea floor areas, though most of the ocean sea floor
is over 3000 m depths. Even now, little is known about how deep-sea litter is
distributed and how it accumulates, and moreover how it affects the deep-sea
floor and deep-sea animals.
The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
has operated and still operates many deep-sea observation tools, e.g., the manned
submersibles Shinkai 2000 and Shinkai 6500, the ROVs Dolphin-3K, HyperDolphin, Kaiko, Kaiko-7000II and ABISMO, the AUV URASHIMA and the
UROV PICASSO and three deep-sea observatory system off Tokachi, Hokkaido,
Off Hatsushima, Sagami Bay, and off Muroto, Kochi. These research submersibles
can dive up to 11000 m. Much litter on the deep-sea floor has been observed and
some has been collected in situ. 4861 deep-sea dives of these research submersibles
have been conducted in Japanese waters mainly since 1982 until the end of
August 2010 (Table 1). All dives have been recorded on videotape and stored as
a film library. Some of them have been recorded in a database and opened to the
public via the WEB. Deep-sea litter can be found on that video footage and in the
database. Given the expense and logistical difficulties associated with submersible
research, effort should be made to extract the most information possible from all
deep-sea dives (Hunt and Lindsay, 1999).
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The aim of this study is to observe how much litter exists on the seafloor at
abyssal depths, the effects of deep-sea litter on deep-sea organisms, and to show
the potential possibility for deep-sea litter studies using deep-sea observation
systems.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
To observe deep-sea litter, three dive videos recorded off Sanriku, Iwate,
Japan, were used. These videos were ROV Dolphin 3K #294 Dive (299~400 m
depth, observation time: 5:31:51), manned submersible Shinkai 2000 #636 Dive
(1086~1147 m depth, observation time: 4:44:04) and ROV Kaiko #242 Dive
(1682~1753 m depth, observation time: 5:36:13) from the film library stored at
JAMSTEC. Deep-sea litter was counted and the types of material identified along
with the environmental data (occurrence time, depth, bottom material, bottom
condition, animals on or around the litter). Observed litter was classified as
plastic, metal, glass, sunken wood, fishing tackle or others.
The Deep-sea video database and Deep Sea Image Database on the home
page of GODAC (Global Oceanographic DAta Center) were used for searching
for deep-sea litter. The URL of the GODAC database is http://www.godac.jp/
portal/page/portal/GDC/GPSS216/. This database site has Japanese pages and
English pages. We ran a search for deep-sea litter using the key words, litter or
(gomi in Japanese) at the database site. There were useful data records in the
search results. The data includes cruise number, dive point, latitude, longitude,
depth, type of submersible, dive number, date of dive, type of camera, and serial
number of dive video. We checked all the data and identified the types of material
with the associated environmental data. All data were input into a Microsoft
Excel worksheet, and converted from the Microsoft Excel file (xls) to a kml file
which is able to be imported into Google Earth. The web site for conversion from
an xls file to a kml file was located at http://www.earthpoint.us/ExcelToKml.aspx.
Converted kml files were imported into Google Earth and the positions of deepsea litter were plotted on the Google Earth map.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Studies on deep sea litter at abyssal depths have been conducted using trawl
nets and submersibles at depths of up to 4614 m (Galgani et al., 1995, 1996, 2000,
2010; Spengler and Costa, 2008; Keller et al., 2010; Watters et al., 2010). This
study is the first report that shows evidence of much anthropogenic litter found
in abyssal areas at more than 5000 m depth.
Much litter was observed in the video record of all three dives. There were
147, 24, and 48 litter records in Dolphin 3K #294 Dive, Shinkai 2000 #636 Dive
and Kaiko #242 Dive, respectively. The largest group of deep-sea litter was
plastics, followed by sunken wood, metal and fishing tackle (Fig. 1). Much litter
was also found on the GODAC database. 301 litter records were hit by the key
word,
. Some of them were the same record with a different camera angle, so
the actual number of litter records was 252. The distribution of litter is shown in
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Fig. 1. Composition of deep-sea litter observed from deep-sea videos obtained from submersibles.
Fig. 2. Deep-sea litter map plotted using the data from the GODAC deep-sea video database.
Fig. 2. This observed distribution of deep-sea litter was affected by the type of
deep-sea research being conducted, biology, chemistry, geology, fisheries,
seismology, earth science, and so on. However we were able to obtain much
information on deep-sea litter at abyssal depths. The maximum depth record was
for a waste can at a depth of 7216 m in the Ryukyu trench. Most of the deep-sea
litter was plastic (Fig. 3). Accumulation of plastic bags was observed at a depth
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265
Fig. 3. Bar chart of the number of deep-sea litter observations in the GODAC deep-sea video
database.
of 2176 m in a deep-sea valley in Suruga Bay and at a depth of 6272 m in the gap
made by a big earthquake in the Japan Trench, off Sanriku (Fig. 4). These results
demonstrate that it is an effective use of deep-sea submersibles for studying deepsea litter to observe in places where fishing nets can not trawl, e.g., deep-sea
valleys, outcrops of base rock, cliffs and gaps.
There are over 4861 deep-sea dive videos in the film library of JAMSTEC.
Most of them were conducted in Sagami Bay (maximum depth is about 1500 m)
which is one of the deepest bays in Japan and is next to Tokyo Bay, because there
have been many studies on the cold seep ecosystem off Hatsushima Island at a
depth of 1000 m. A total of 316 dives were conducted in Sagami Bay by the
Shinkai 2000 and Dolphin 3K from 1982 to 2002. Fig. 5 shows that much video
footage of deep-sea dives in the same Bay in different years have been stocked.
Other submersibles, such as the Shinkai 6500 and Hyper Dolphin have also been
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Fig. 4. Accumulation of deep-sea litter. a: Japan Trench (6272 m depth) in Shinkai 6500 #67 Dive
1991.07.15, b: Suruga Bay (2170 m) in Shinkai 6500 #58 Dive 1991.06.13.
adding deep-sea dives in Sagami Bay since 2002. We can analyze the chronological
change of accumulation of deep-sea litter in this bay using the accumulated video
library. A video library can play an important role in allowing us to observe the
past like a time machine. Moreover, video analysis on deep-sea litter does not
require high monetary outlay like using deep-sea submersibles for new studies.
It is important to establish a useful database of submersible-collected observations
(Hunt and Lindsay, 1999). The database of GODAC may be one of these useful
databases, but this database must be used not only for deep-sea litter study but
also for all science purposes more efficiently.
The places where deep-sea litter accumulated was almost always on a muddy
sediment bottom where sea cucumbers such as Scotoplanes globosa, Enypniastes
eximia, Peniagone sp. etc. were found frequently. This environment may only
have small tidal currents and it is easy to accumulate nutrient-rich sediments and
anthropogenic litter. The place where deep-sea litter accumulated was the same
place where deep-sea benthic animals lived! Deep-sea litter was also utilized by
sessile organisms. Sea anemones and feather stars were found attached to deepsea litter. Interestingly, many predatory tunicates, Megalodicopia hians, were
found attached to deep-sea litter in Toyama Bay (Fig. 6a). Predatory tunicates
need a hard substrate upon which to attach for their existence. The habitat of
predatory tunicates is usually outcrops of base rock (Fig. 6b). So they cannot live
on soft bottoms. However, there is soft sediment where predatory tunicate can not
inhabit visible in Fig. 6a. The tunicates in Fig. 6a are attached to a fishing net and
on something else made by plastic. Hitch-hiking of animals on floating or
suspended litter (Aliani and Molcard, 2003; Gregory, 2009) can also transport
shallow water animals to deep-sea environments. This shows how deep-sea litter
from our daily life can function as a substrate for sessile organisms in places they
would otherwise be unable to inhabit.
Plastics are the major category of deep-sea litter but have the ability to
adsorb chemicals and contain additives such as endocrine disturbing chemicals
(Teuten et al., 2009). Marine litter can be ingested by many marine organisms,
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267
Fig. 5. Bar chart of annual number of deep-sea dives using the manned-submersible Shinkai 2000
and the ROV Dolphin-3K in Sagami Bay.
Fig. 6. Predatory tunicate, Megalodicopia hians. a: Predatory tunicates attached to a fishing net
lying on the soft sediment bottom. b: Natural habitat of predatory tunicates.
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bacteria, zooplankton, fishes, sea turtles, birds, marine mammals, etc. (Moore et
al., 2001; Thompson et al., 2004; Criddle et al., 2009; Graham and Thompson,
2009; Gregory, 2009; Oehlmann et al., 2009; Ryan et al., 2009; Webb et al., 2009;
Galgani et al., 2010; Jacobsen et al., 2010; Sekiguchi et al., 2010a, b). There is
a biological pump in marine ecosystems. The biological pump accelerates the
transport of organic matter. Therefore, once any organisms intake any chemicals
through ingesting floating or suspending anthropogenic litter, the chemicals may
be transported from the surface to the deep-sea floor easily and quickly.
Accumulation of those plastics on the deep-sea floor also transports these
chemicals from surface waters to the deep-sea bottom and thence to deep-sea
organisms that used to be remote from our daily life.
The study of deep-sea litter using submersibles has the difficulty of the
expense and logistical problems. However, this study shows that in situ visual
data collected from observations by manned submersibles, ROVs, AUVs, towed
camera arrays, and deep-sea observatory systems is useful for the study of deepsea litter at abyssal depths at low cost.
Acknowledgments—We sincerely thank the captain and crew of the R/V Natsushima, R/
V Kaiyo, and the R/V Yokosuka and the commander, pilots, and operations teams of the
manned submersible Shinkai 2000, Shinkai 6500, the ROV Dolphin 3K and the ROV
Hyper-Dolphin for their dedicated efforts. We also thank Touko Kaneshi, Makoto
Nakamura and staffs of GODAC for giving information about the video database and
Hirotaka Nakamura of JAMSTEC for giving useful information about the deep-sea diving
video archives. We also thank Dr. Dhugal J. Lindsay of JAMSTEC for editing assistance
and valuable comments.
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H. Miyake (e-mail: [email protected])