SHUNJI FURUKUMA
Abstract
The loss of EGIs- a type of artificial lure used in recreational fishing for cephalopods (a practice known as Eging) - through unintentional discharge into the marine environment has emerged as a plastic component of marine debris pollution in oceans worldwide. The phenomenon, in which a lost EGI was stuck in a patch-like colony of Japanese goose barnacles, a rock-dwelling arthropod, was observed and documented on the rocky shores of western Japan. At the investigated point, a single EGI was found deeply embedded in the center of a patch-like colony of approximately 30 goose barnacles. The plastic covering on the surface of the EGIâs plastic body had peeled off, and a thin layer of algae covered its surface, suggesting the passage of a considerable amount of time since the EGI was discarded. Based on the degree of degradation and structure of the stranded EGI, as well as the possibility of long-term accumulation on the coast, it was considered EGIs to be a potential source of harm to rocky shore fauna, as observed in this case. Reports document large-scale losses of EGIs into the marine environment along Japanâs coasts, as in other parts of the world. Here, the potential impacts of discarded EGIs on organisms inhabiting rocky shores are considered.