Journal
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
Volume 178, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.113520
Keywords
Marine Protected Areas; Polymer characterization; Balearic Islands; Anthropogenic impacts; Coastal conservation; Marine litter
Funding
- European Regional Development Fund [4MED17_3.2_M123_027]
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This study analyzed the distribution and characteristics of macro- and micro-litter on the beaches of Cabrera Archipelago Maritime-Terrestrial National Park. The majority of macro-litter items were plastic, while white and transparent microplastics in the size range of 1-2 mm were the most abundant. The composition of the beaches and anthropogenic pressures influenced the distribution of litter.
In this study, the spatial distribution and physical characteristics of beach macro-and micro-litter within the Cabrera Archipelago Maritime-Terrestrial National Park (Cabrera MPA), in the Balearic Islands have been analysed. For macro-litter items, a mean concentration of 1.9 +/- 2.4 items/m(2) weighing a total of 13 kg was quantified. In terms of beach composition, cobble beaches with deposited seagrass had almost twice as much marine litter as other beaches. For beach micro-litter items, white and transparent microplastics within the size class of 1-2 mm were the most abundant on all the beaches, and the most common polymer types were polyethylene (64%) and polypropylene (17.2%). Overall, for both macro-and micro-litter items, plastic was the most dominant material (90%) identified on all beaches surveyed within Cabrera MPA, indicating areas of low anthropogenic pressures are increasingly becoming sinks for marine litter.
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