Journal
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
Volume 172, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112876
Keywords
Plastic pollution; ATR-FTIR; Environmental debris; Bottom trawling; Monitoring
Funding
- Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) via the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) [2819108816]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study analyzed the abundance and composition of seafloor litter in the Baltic and North Sea, revealing significant differences between the two seas and the dominance of plastics, particularly polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyamide. The majority of polymers identified were positively buoyant in seawater, indicating that polymer density is not the main driver of vertical plastic litter transportation. Plastics at the seafloor essentially represent all polymers entering marine environments.
Different litter types accumulate in all marine environments. Plastics are of special interest because of their high abundance and possible threats to marine organisms. Polymer type is crucial for their distribution and fate in marine environments. Seafloor litter abundance and composition in the Baltic and North Sea were analysed based on three sampling campaigns according to the protocol of ICES International Bottom Trawl Survey. Polymers were identified via attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. General litter abundances differed significantly between the Baltic and North Sea with 9.6 items/km2 and 70.7 items/km2, respectively. Plastic built the dominating litter group in both seas (62.2% and 91.3%, respectively). Polymer identification revealed clear dominance of polyethylene, polypropylene and polyamide. Most polymers were positively buoyant in seawater (89.5%), thereby excluding polymer density as the main driver of vertical plastic litter transportation. Plastics at the seafloor basically reflected the entirety of polymers entering marine environments.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available