Journal
WASTE MANAGEMENT
Volume 58, Issue -, Pages 41-51Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2016.08.038
Keywords
Marine litter; Marine Strategy Framework Directive; Bottom trawl; Litter sources; Canonical Correspondence Analysis
Categories
Funding
- DeFishGear (Derelict Fishing Gear Management System in the Adriatic Region) IPA Adriatic strategic project [1degrees str/00010]
- European Union
- Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA)
- FAO-ADRIAMED regional project
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Detecting the origin of marine benthic litter is fundamental for developing policies aimed at achieving the Good Environmental Status in European Seas by 2020, as requested by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). The abundance and composition of benthic litter in the Northern and Central Adriatic Sea were investigated at 67 stations with bottom trawl nets. Average density of benthic litter was 913 80 items/km(2), ranking the Adriatic as one of the most polluted basins worldwide, Plastic was dominant in terms of numbers (80%) and weight (62%), and mainly consisted in bags, sheets and mussel nets. Higher quantities of litter were found in coastal areas, especially in front river mouths, coastal cities and mussel farms. In deep waters, litter hotspots were associated with most congested shipping lanes, indicating an additional litter input to the basin. Benthic litter composition resulted to be largely driven by the vicinity to local sources, i.e. mussel farming installations and most congested shipping routes. These findings provide useful insights to set measures to manage marine litter in the Adriatic region, and possibly to minimize this anthropogenic pollution. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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