Microplastics In The Marine Environment, Presence In Water And Interaction With Marine Organisms.

Abstract

This study is done in the framework of CLAIM project (Cleaning Litter by developing & Applying Innovative Methods in European seas). The objective is to advance the knowledge on the current status of marine plastic pollution in the Gulf of Gabes area of the Mediterranean Sea, by quantifying and qualifying the microplastics in water and biota samples. The results obtained show a high abundance of microplastics in all marine compartments studied with an average abundance of 1.16 items/m3 ± 0.83 SD in the water sample. This concentration is relatively high compared to those reported in other Mediterranean regions. Dominance in number of fragments over other shapes of microplastics was reported in all sites. Polyethylene was the main plastic polymer for water samples (73% of the items analyzed are Polyethylene). These data underscore that the Gulf of Gabes region is a hotspot for plastic pollution, and this calls urgently for precautionary measures. Concerning the ingestion of microplastics by marine organisms, one blue plastic particle of 0.13 mm was found in 20 tested fishes. In addition, ecotoxicological tests were run in order to verify whether 1-4 and 20-25 μm polyethylene beads are likely to trigger lethal and sub-lethal responses in marine planktonic crustaceans and the results show that microplastics were accumulated in crustaceans, and may affect mortality.