Marine Pollution: The Problematic of Microplastics

A few times a year, volunteers fan out along the causeway that links the South Carolina mainland with the seashore community of Folly Beach to clean up plastic bottles, straws, bags, and other debris from along the road and the salt marsh. Some of this debris has come from cities miles away. On windy days, litter is often blown off city streets into waterways. During rainstorms, debris floats into drains that empty into rivers. Other trash probably came from places closer to home. “I see bags and other plastic flying off the beds of pickup trucks going down the causeway,” says Marty Morganello, who organizes the cleanups for the Charleston-area chapter of the nonprofit Surfrider Foundation. “I see them coming out the open windows of cars and out the backs of garbage trucks and even recycling trucks. This material is lightweight, and if you don’t secure it, it will fly away.” By one estimate, the volume of plastic debris going into the world’s oceans could more than double by 2025, assuming current trends in coastal development and plastics use. Some countries have begun identifying ways to improve management of plastic ... Beach cleanups yield enormous amounts of trash, with plastic items a major constituent.1 Although the human health impacts of this marine plastic pollution remain poorly characterized, it is widely seen as an emerging problem that deserves much more research attention.2 Likewise, there is a growing urgency among industry, government, nongovernmental organizations, and environmental groups to develop tools and policies to track, capture, and recycle plastic waste before it reaches the ocean.

Ingestion of marine debris can have lethal and sublethal effects on sea turtles and other wildlife. Although researchers have reported on ingestion of anthropogenic debris by marine turtles and implied incidences of debris ingestion have increased over time, there has not been a global synthesis of the phenomenon since 1985. Thus, we analyzed 37 studies published from 1985 to 2012 that report on data collected from before 1900 through 2011. Specifically, we investigated whether ingestion prevalence has changed over time, what types of debris are most commonly ingested, the geographic distribution of debris ingestion by marine turtles relative to global debris distribution, and which species and life-history stages are most likely to ingest debris. The probability of green (Chelonia mydas) and leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) ingesting debris increased significantly over time, and plastic was the most commonly ingested debris. Turtles in nearly all regions studied ingest debris, but the probability of ingestion was not related to modeled debris densities. Furthermore, smaller, oceanic-stage turtles were more likely to ingest debris than coastal foragers, whereas carnivorous species were less likely to ingest debris than herbivores or gelatinovores. Our results indicate oceanic leatherback turtles and green turtles are at the greatest risk of both lethal and sublethal effects from ingested marine debris. To reduce this risk, anthropogenic debris must be managed at a global level.Análisis Global de la Ingesta de Residuos Antropogénicos por Tortugas MarinasLa ingesta de residuos marinos puede tener efectos letales y subletales sobre las tortugas marinas y otros animales. Aunque hay investigadores que han reportado la ingesta de residuos antropogénicos por tortugas marinas y la incidencia de la ingesta de residuos ha incrementado con el tiempo, no ha habido una síntesis global del fenómeno desde 1985. Por esto analizamos 37 estudios publicados, desde 1985 hasta 2012, que reportan datos colectados desde antes de 1900 y a lo largo del 2011. Investigamos específicamente si el predominio de la ingesta ha cambiado con el tiempo, qué tipos de residuos se ingieren comúnmente, la distribución geográfica de la ingesta de residuos por tortugas marinas en relación a la distribución global de residuos y cuáles especies y etapas de vida tienen más probabilidad de ingerir residuos. La probabilidad de que las tortugas verdes (Chelonia mydas) y laúd (Dermochelys coriacea) ingieran escombros incrementa significativamente con el tiempo; plástico fue el residuo que más se ingirió. Las tortugas en casi todas las regiones estudiadas ingieren residuos, pero la probabilidad de ingesta no estuvo relacionada con las densidades modeladas de residuos. Además de esto, tortugas más pequeñas, en etapa oceánica de vida, tuvieron una mayor probabilidad de ingerir residuos que las tortugas forrajeras terrestres, mientras que las especies carnívoras tuvieron menos probabilidad de ingerir residuos que las herbívoras o las gelatinívoras. Nuestros resultados indican que las tortugas verdes y laúd tienen el mayor riesgo de efectos letales y subletales de la ingesta de residuos marinos. Para reducir el riesgo, los residuos antropogénicos deben manejarse en un nivel global.

Marine litter is human-created waste that has been discharged into the coastal or marine environment. “Marine debris” is defined as anthropogenic, manufactured, or processed solid material discarded, disposed of, or abandoned in the environment, including all materials discarded into the sea, on the shore, or brought indirectly to the sea by rivers, sewage, storm water, waves, or winds. A large fraction of marine debris is made up of plastic items. Plastic marine debris has become one of the most prevalent pollution related problems affecting the marine environment globally. The widespread challenge of managing marine litter is a useful illustration of the global and transboundary nature of many marine environmental problems. At a global level, plastic litter constitutes 83–87% of all marine litter. Land-based sources are estimated to be responsible for approximately 80% of marine litter. The largest portion of plastic associated with marine pollution is often linked to the contribution from terrestrial sources associated with accidental or deliberate spills as well as inefficient waste management systems in heavily anthropized coastal regions. This chapter is intended to serve as a catalyst for further discussion to explore the potential for developing a Mediterranean regional framework for addressing marine litter.

Northern gannets (Sula bassana) are considered to obtain prey usually by rapid, vertical, shallow plunge dives. In order to test this contention and investigate underwater foraging behaviour, we attached two types of data-logging systems to 11 parental northern gannets at Funk Island in the North-Wiest Atlantic. We documented, for the first time to the authors' knowledge, gannets performing long, flat-bottomed, U-shaped dives that involved underwater wing propulsion as well as rapid, shallow, V-shaped dives. The median and maximum dive depths and durations were 4.6 and 22.0 m and 8 and 38 s, respectively. Short, shallow dives were usually V-shaped and dives deeper than 8 m and longer than 10 s were usually U-shaped, including a period at constant depth (varying between 4 and 28s with median 8s). Diving occurred throughout the daylight period and deepest dives were performed during late morning. On the basis of motion sensors in the loggers and food collections from telemetered birds, we concluded that extended, deep dives were directed at deep schools of capelin, a small pelagic fish, and we hypothesized that V-shaped dives were aimed at larger, pelagic fishes and squids. Furthermore, these V-shaped dives allowed the birds to surprise their pelagic prey and this may be critical because the maximum swimming speeds of the prey species may exceed the maximum dive speeds of the birds.

<p>Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS, aka drones) are being used to map marine macro-litter on the coast. Within the UAS4Litter project, the application of UAS has been applied on three sandy beach-dune systems on the wave-dominated North Atlantic Portuguese coast. Several technical solutions have been tested in terms of drone mapping performance, manual image screening and marine litter map analysis. The conceptualization and implementation of a multidisciplinary framework allowed to improve and making more efficient the mapping of marine litter items with UAS on coastal environment. </p><p>The location of major marine litter loads within the monitored areas were found associated to beach slope and water level dynamics on the beach profiles. Moreover, the abundance of marine pollution was related to the geographical location and level of urbanization of the study sites. The testing of machine learning techniques underlined that automated technique returned reliable abundance map of marine litter, while manual image screening was required for a detailed categorization of the items. </p><p>As marine litter pollution on coastal dunes has received limited scientific attention when compared with sandy shores, a novel non-intrusive UAS-based marine litter survey have been also applied to quantify the level of contamination on coastal dunes. The results showed the influence of the different dune plant communities in trapping distinct type of marine litter, and the role played by wind and overwash events in defining the items pathways through the dune blowouts. </p><p>The experiences on the Portuguese coast show that UAS allows an integrated approach for marine litter mapping, beach morphodynamic and nearshore hydrodynamic, setting the ground for marine litter dynamic modelling on the shore. Besides, UAS can give a new impulse to coastal dune litter monitoring, where the long residence time of marine debris threat the bio-ecological equilibrium of these ecosystems.</p>

Environmental damage caused by marine plastic debris occurs and has become a major contributor to marine pollution. This study analyzed the current state of marine plastic debris pollution and proposed essential strategies to reduce damage. To assess the current state of pollution arising from marine plastic debris, this study investigated the properties of plastic debris, reviewed case studies of ecological impacts, and examined the inflow and distribution of marine plastic debris. The results of this study indicate that the major deleterious effects of marine plastics are entanglement and ingestion. In addition, the amount of plastic waste entering the sea was estimated to be 230 Mt in 2015 and may increase to 554 Mt in 2050. In this study, three key strategies were proposed to reduce damage and preserve the ecosystem, including: 1) removing plastic debris in the marine environment, 2) limiting the release of plastic debris to the marine environment, and 3) preventing damage to humans and marine life from plastic debris. To minimize the environmental damage caused by marine plastic debris, the proposed response strategies should be implemented in parallel.

Marine debris occurrence and treatment: A review

Coastal pollution is becoming a significant threat for both marine ecosystems and humans. Marine pollution and coastal degradation are severely exacerbated by anthropogenic activities involving the discharge of industrial and domestic effluents, ballast water and brine wastes, accidental spillage of oil and radioactive wastes, and the modification of coastal structures. Understanding the sources of marine pollution and their possible impacts allows us to measure the current mitigation and conservation strategies aimed at protecting marine ecosystems from further deterioration. This review assessed the status of marine pollution based on the literature with a focus on the sea in arid regions over the last four decades. The review also summarized the degree of contamination of heavy metals and petroleum hydrocarbons that accumulated in marine water, sediments and living organisms. In addition, the review critically suggested several mitigation strategies to alleviate the impacts of such pollutions. The key findings indicated that the oil and gas production and processing industries, desalination industries, sea traffic, urban development, and discharge of treated wastewater and ballast water along with seasonal upwelling, and climate change were the main contributors of marine pollution in these regions including the Sea of Oman. The major identified pollutants were heavy metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, organochlorine, tar, harmful algal blooms, marine debris, non-native species, and sediment that are posing severe threats to marine biodiversity and ecosystems. The occurrence of radionuclides in these regions seems to be smaller compared to the World Ocean because of the insignificant disposal of nuclear waste due to strict law enforcement and monitoring. However, marine litter, micro-plastic, radionuclides, greenhouse gases, and non-point pollutant sources have not been investigated properly. Therefore, efforts to identify the possible sources of pollution, estimate their impacts based on field data and numerical modeling, and understand ocean dynamics with regard to the transportation and deposition of sediments and pollutants need to be undertaken in order to protect the coastal and marine environment and ecosystems. Furthermore, integration of robotic aircraft along with satellite surveillance can be an additional measure deployed for the purposes of monitoring oil spillage, illegal ballast water discharge, harmful algal blooms, and beach utilization.

Exploring the dynamics of antibiotic resistome on plastic debris traveling from the river to the sea along a representative estuary based on field sequential transfer incubations

This research addresses the challenge of marine plastic pollution with particular reference to Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Marine plastic pollution is of particular significance to these states since they suffer from a disproportionate incidence of plastic pollution on their coasts. In line with the region's need to protect its marine environment and subsequently its economy from the grave impacts of plastic pollution, this work assesses marine debris monitoring within Caribbean SIDS, and the barriers faced and considerations needed for unified monitoring efforts that support policy development. Additionally, the research examines microplastics on the beaches of Caribbean SIDS, and highlights concerns over scientific research on this issue being conducted by and often retained by extra- regional research teams and institutions. The research further recognises that the United Nations (UN) member states are currently engaged in historic negotiations to develop an international legally binding instrument (ILBI) to end plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. It is hoped and anticipated that this ambitious process of intergovernmental negotiations will lead to an ILBI, informally known as the “global plastics treaty” (note that ILBI and global plastics treaty are used interchangeably henceforth). It is intended that this instrument will comprehensively address the full life cycle of plastics from production to disposal. The ILBI is set to be achieved through five Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) meetings to negotiate the specifics of the treaty between 2022 and 2024. Caribbean SIDS are disproportionately affected by the transboundary nature of plastic pollution and face challenges in equitably participating in the global plastics treaty negotiations. Through the lens of collective action to support the development of the global plastics treaty, this thesis explores the gaps and limitations experienced by Caribbean SIDS in their ability to coordinate and participate in the negotiations and also explores their ability to ascertain localised scientific data that supports negotiating positions. This work assesses key barriers hindering the equitable participation of Caribbean SIDS in the INC meetings in real time, and proposes applicable solutions. Additionally, it contributes novel information to discourse on contextual equity in environmental decision making by providing a framework to identify key factors needed by Caribbean SIDS to foster equity throughout the entirety of the INC process. Moreover, this work illustrates the importance of how relevant scientific research, equitable processes for participation in environmental negotiations, and adequate coordination mechanisms for multilateral environmental agreements can bolster efficacy for Caribbean SIDS participating

The available literature on marine debris and its impacts in the sub-Antarctic Islands, the Antarctic Peninsula and on the coasts of Antarctica was organized and interpreted here. A total of 98 documents covering from 1982 to 2010 were found and 95% had their full contents accessed. Seventy documents were on line scientific abstracts from the Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). The occurrence of marine debris in the Antarctic environment, fur seals entanglement in marine debris, interactions between seabirds and marine debris and long range transport of benthos on floating plastics were the main issues discussed. Fishing operations in the Southern Ocean were identified as the major source of marine debris, but according to the type of debris reported, plastics from lower latitudes may also cross the Polar Front (PF). Possible links between Antarctic and South America, the closest intercontinental connection, in relation to plastic marine debris pollution are highlighted. As reported for lower latitudinal gradients, plastic pollution is an important problem to the Antarctic environment. However, specific and detailed works are necessary since our current knowledge probably expose only a small part of the real problem. Concerning this sort of pollution in the Antarctic marine and coastal environments, we may be looking solely at the tip of iceberg.

Synthetic polymers in the marine environment: A rapidly increasing, long-term threat

Exploring marine biofouling on anthropogenic litter in the Atlantic coastline of Morocco

Surface adsorption of metallic species onto microplastics with long-term exposure to the natural marine environment

Plastic waste is one of the marine debris that has negative impacts on the marine environment, such as the death of biota and disturbing the beauty of nature. Plastics can degrade into microplastics. Microplastics in the marine environment can be found in waters and sediments, so they can enter the biota through the food chain. The research aims to examine the distribution of marine debris and microplastics on small islands (Tidung Kecil, Jakarta Bay) and the mainland (Sembilang National Park, South Sumatra). The total marine debris on Tidung Kecil Island (4.04 kg/m2) was greater than that of Sembilang National Plants (0.71 kg/m2). The average abundance of microplastics in the larger size area is greater than in small islands. This is because the substrate is predominantly clayey and muddy with a relatively calm environment, while on small islands the substrate is sand with a dynamic environment. The amount of marine debris found did not correlate with the abundance of microplastics.