Contact Person : Dr. V. Kripa, Principal Scientist & HoD, FEMD, CMFRI ; Last Date for the submission of abstract : 31/03/2018; The oceans and coastal ecosystems are facing a new threat - the Marine Debris. Most researchers believe that this is worse than any other problem faced by aquatic ecosystems. Debris ranging from cigarette butts to large plastic sheets have emerged as the latest threat to sustainability of coastal and marine ecosystem, endangering the fauna, flora, the physical and chemical processes and ultimately the livelihood of thousands of fishers and farmers. Not only plastics, even other items like glass and metal which can be easily recycled also are thrown away as trash. Recent studies have shown that there are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean. Of that mass, 269,000 tons float on the surface, while some four billion plastic microfibers per square kilometre litter the deep sea. The amount of plastic waste entering the ocean from land each year exceeds 4.8 million metric tons MMT and may be as high as 12.7 MMT. Careless discard of torn nets leading to