An Assessment of Sea Surface and Seabed Macro Plastic Density in Northeastern Mediterranean Sea

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

1 Faculty of Marine Sciences and Technology. Iskenderun Technical University, 31200 Iskenderun/ Hatay, Turkey

2 Maritime Vocational School, Iskenderun Technical University, 31200 Iskenderun/ Hatay, Turkey

Abstract

Increasing plastic usage pose a significant threat to the marine environment. Many studies have been conducted to examine the amount and environmental impacts of plastic waste across the world. This study was carried out to investigate the density and quality of plastics on the sea surface and seabed of İskenderun Bay. 35 different seabed sampling and 25 different sea surface sampling were conducted by using İskenderun Technical University R/V ISTE-1 vessel. A total of 1 661 581 m and 465 511 m2 swept from the seabed and sea surface were scanned, respectively. As a result of these scans, the amount of plastic waste density per unit area of the seabed was found as  0.126 g / m2 ± 0.011 (p: 0.95), and the amount of plastic waste density per unit area of sea surface was calculated as 0.052 gr ± 0.011 (p: 0.95). Scuba dives conducted in river mouths showed plastic deposition pits at the seabed. Major surface current systems and dominant southern winds were found to be effective in the sea surface distribution of plastic materials.

Keywords


Avşar, D. (1999). Physico-chemical characteristics of the Eastern Mediterranean in relation to distribution of the new Scyphomedusae (Rhopilema nomadica). Tr. J. of Zoology., 2, 605-616. (In Turkish)
Bakir, A., Rowland, S.J. and Thompson, R.C. (2014). Enhanced desorption of persistent organic pollutants from microplastics under simulated physiological conditions. Environ Pollut, 185, 16-23.
Barnes, D.K., Galgani, F., Thompson, R.C. and Barlaz, M. (2009). Accumulation and fragmentation of plastic debris in global environments. Philos T Roy Soc B, 364(1526), 1985-1998.
Bingel, F., Avsar, D. and Unsal, M. (1987). A note on plastic materials in trawl catches in the north-eastern Mediterranean. Sonderdruck aus Bd., 31(3-4), 227-233.
Büyükdeveci, F., Gündoğdu, S. (2021). Composition and abundance of benthic marine litter in the fishing grounds of Iskenderun Bay, northeastern Levantine coast of Turkey. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 172 (112840)
Castro-Jiménez, J., González-Fernández, D., Fornier, M., Schmidt, N. and Sempere, R. (2019). Macro-litter in surface waters from the Rhone River: Plastic pollution and loading to the NW Mediterranean Sea. Mar Pollut Bull, 146, 60-66.
Cózar, A., Sanz-Martín, M., Martí, E., González-Gordillo, J.I., Ubeda, B., Gálvez, J. Á., Irigoien, X. and Duarte, C. M. (2015). Plastic accumulation in the Mediterranean Sea. PLoS One, 10(4), 1-12
de Lucia, G. A., Caliani, I., Marra, S., Camedda, A., Coppa, S., Alcaro, L., Campanı, T., Giannetti, M., Coppola, D., Cicero, A.M., Panti, C., Baini, M., Guerranti, C., Marsili, L., Massaro, G., Fossi, M.C. and Matiddi, M. (2014). Amount and distribution of neustonic micro-plastic off the western Sardinian coast (Central-Western Mediterranean Sea). MAR ENVIRON RES, 100, 10-16.
Demirci, A. (2003). Non-target demersal species inhabiting İskenderun Bay and their Biomass Estimation. Dissertation. Mustafa Kemal University. 41 pages. (In Turkish)
Farrell, P., Nelson, K. (2013). Trophic level transfer of microplastic: Mytilus edulis (L.) to Carcinus maenas (L.). ENVIRON POLL, 177, 1-3.
Galgani, F., Leaute, P. Moguedet, P., Souplet, A., Verin, Y., Carpentier, A., Goraguer, H., Latrouite, D., Andral., B., Cadiou, Y., Mahe, J.C., Poulard, J.C. and Nerisson., P. (2000). Litter on the sea floor along European coasts. Mar Pollut Bull, 40(6),516-527
Gregory, M.R. (2009). Environmental implications of plastic debris in marine settings-entanglement, ingestion, smothering, hangers-on, hitch-hiking and alien invasions. PHILOS T ROY SOC B, 364(1526), 2013-2025.
Gündoğdu, S., Çevik, C. (2017). Micro-and mesoplastics in Northeast Levantine coast of Turkey: The preliminary results from surface samples. Mar Pollut Bull, 118(1-2), 341-347.
Güven, O., Gökdağ, K., Jovanović, B. and Kıdeyş, A. E. (2017). Microplastic litter composition of the Turkish territorial waters of the Mediterranean Sea, and its occurrence in the gastrointestinal tract of fishEnviron pol, 223, 286-294.
Kaandorp, M. L., Dijkstra, H. A. and van Sebille, E. (2020). Closing the Mediterranean marine floating plastic mass budget: inverse modeling of sources and sinks. Environ sci tech, 54(19), 11980-11989.
Kilic, E., Akpınar, A. and Yücel, N. (2018). The Asi River’s estimated nutrient load and effects on the eastern Mediterranean. Aquat Sci Eng, 33(2), 61-66.
Koutsodendris, A., Papatheodorou, G., Kougiourouki, O. and Georgiadis, M. (2008). Benthic marine litter in four Gulfs in Greece, Eastern Mediterranean; abundance, composition and source identification. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci, 77(3), 501-512.
MAF. (2020). Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Regulation No: 2020/20. Regulation of the commercial fishery
Mazlum, Y., Can, M.F., Yılmaz, A.B., Demirci, A., Gürlek, M., Şimşek, E., Şereflişan, M. and Uygur, N. (2019). Removal of abandoned and lost fishing equipment from various seabeds and habitats. (Paper presented at II. Ulusal Denizlerde İzleme ve Değerlendirme Sempozyumu), 173-174.
Munari, C., Scoponi, M. and Mistri, M. (2017). Plastic debris in the Mediterranean Sea: Types, occurrence and distribution along Adriatic shorelines. Waste Manage, 67, 385-391.
Pauly, D. (1987) A review of ELEFAN system for analysis of length frequency data in fish and aquatic invertebrates. (Paper presented at in ICLARM conference), 7-34
Pedrotti, M.L., Petit, S., Elineau, A., Bruzaud, S., Crebassa, J.C., Dumontet, B., Marti, E., Gorsky, G. and Cózar, A. (2016). Changes in the floating plastic pollution of the Mediterranean Sea in relation to the distance to land. PloS one, 11(8), e0161581.  
Plastic Europe. (2019). An analysis of European plastics production, demand and waste data.   https://www.plasticseurope.org/application/files/9715/7129/9584/FINAL_web_version_Plastics_the_facts2019_14102019.pdf
Portman, M.E., Brennan, R.E. (2017). Marine litter from beach-based sources: Case study of an Eastern Mediterranean coastal town. Waste Manage, 69, 535-544.
Ruiz-Orejón, L. F., Sardá, R. and Ramis-Pujol, J. (2016). Floating plastic debris in the Central and Western Mediterranean Sea. Mar Environ Res, 120, 136-144.
Şimşek, E. 2018. Analysis of the factors affecting the discard fate for trawl fishery. Dissertation. Iskenderun Technical University (In Turkish). 28 pages
Sparre, P., Venema, S.C. (1998). Introduction to trophical fish stock assessment. Vol 1. FAO. Fisheries technical paper, Rome.
Teuten, E. L., Saquing, J. M., Knappe, D. R., Barlaz, M. A., Jonsson, S., Björn, A., Rowland, S. J., Thompson, R. C., Galloway, T. S., Yamashita, R., Ochi, D., Watanuki, Y., Moore, C., Viet, P. H., Tana, T. S., Prudente, M., Boonyatumanond, R., Zakaria, M. P., Akkhavong, K., Ogata, Y., Hirai, H., Iwasa, S., Mizukawa, K., Hagino, Y., Imamura, A., Saha, M. and Takada, H. (2009). Transport and release of chemicals from plastics to the environment and to wildlife. Philos T Roy Soc B, 364(1526), 2027–2045. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2008.0284
Yılmaz, A. B., Başusta, N. and İşmen, A. (2002). İskenderun Körfezi’nin Güney-Doğu Kıyılarında Plastik Materyal Birikimi Üzerine Bir Çalışma. J Fish Aquat Sci, 19, 485-488.
Yılmaz, A. B., Demirci. A., Uygur N., Şimşek, E., Yanar, A., Akar, Ö., Kılıç, E. and Alptekin, O. A.  (2019). Evaluation of plastic waste from Iskenderun Bay. (Paper presented at II. Ulusal Denizlerde İzleme ve Değerlendirme Sempozyumu), 175-178.
Yılmaz, E., Özgür, E., Bereli, N., Türkmen, D. and Denizli, A. (2017). Plastic antibody based surface plasmon resonance nanosensors for selective atrazine detection. Mater. Sci. Eng. C, 73, 603-610.