In the realm of maritime law, there exist four distinct categories of marine debris: flotsam (floating goods that were not intentionally discarded), jetsam (floating goods that were deliberately jettisoned), lagan (sunken goods that are attached to a floating object), and derelict (sunken goods that are irretrievable). Among these, flotsam and jetsam have become synonymous with “discarded or useless objects” in everyday language. These terms can be traced back to their origins in Old French and Latin, with flotsam deriving from the concept of floating and jetsam originating from the act of throwing.
