Abstract
The extent of marine litter and microplastic occurrence across ocean biomes and species remains poorly characterised, particularly in remote deep-water ecosystems. The present study in the East Mingulay Special Area of Conservation (a Marine Protected Area in the Sea of the Hebrides, western Scotland) used historic surveys and benthic samples to obtain baseline levels of anthropogenic debris and microparticle ingestion. Most debris identified in the MPA was fisheries related. A total of 11% of benthic macrofauna from Mingulay Reef Area 1 and Banana Reef had ingested microplastics, with no statistically significant effect of feeding guild, station, or reef, on ingestion rates. However, ingestion rate was highest at a station located in a topographic hollow along a gentle sloping area with strong variable ocean currents where fine-scale interactions between bathymetry and hydrography may have helped trap and focus microparticles. Raman spectroscopy of microparticles revealed several types of polymers being ingested, tentatively identified as polypropylene (PP), polyurethane (PU), polystyrene (PS), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Besides establishing a baseline assessment of marine litter and microparticles in a deep-water setting, the approach demonstrates the utility of using historic data and specimens collected for other purposes to expand the geographic and ecosystem coverage for larger more regional-scale and even basin-wide assessments such as those needed to inform Good Environmental Status in European waters as called for by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.
Highlights
Marine litter is entering the world’s oceans at an unprecedented rate at around 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons each year (Jambeck et al, 2015)
The systematic review of cruise reports recorded six instances of litter out of 217 benthic stations sampled by different gear (ROV dive transects and video-assisted grabbing), one of which was outside the Marine Protected Area (MPA) boundary but the other five were recorded from Mingulay Reef 1 and Mingulay Reef 5 North
It was notable that cruise reports from surveys conducted in 2009 and 2011 recalled that lost fishing gear had directly impeded the deployment of equipment, and in 2011, caused significant damage to sampling gear
Summary
Marine litter is entering the world’s oceans at an unprecedented rate at around 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons each year (Jambeck et al, 2015). Any persistent, manufactured or processed solid material discarded, disposed of or abandoned in the marine and coastal environment” (Galgani et al, 2010). Marine Litter at Mingulay items include artificial polymer materials such as plastics, rubber, cloths and textiles, paper, processed or worked wood, metal, glass and ceramics. Holistic and adaptive management strategies that use robust science to underpin changes in policies and management regimes can be successful at reducing litter input rates (Rochman et al, 2016), e.g., fulmar plastic ingestion has significantly decreased in the North Atlantic gyre over the last 25 years (Van Franeker and Law, 2015)
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