Plastic pollution on remote islands: A baseline study of Príncipe, Gulf of Guinea

Abstract

Plastic is the most abundant marine anthropogenic debris in the ocean and is of serious global environmental concern. Projects aimed at monitoring plastic pollution quantities are key in evaluating the success of reduction. This study provides baseline information on the quantities of marine debris found on the island of Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic coast of Central Africa. A total of 13,196 items were collected with 64.5% of these items being plastic. Plastic pieces the size of 2.5–50 cm made up 20.8% of all plastic items, followed by plastic bags (13.3%) and fishing material (11.39%). The density of mesoplastic items (<25 and >5mm) ranged between 0 and 6.78 items m−2. Beach location, community presence, and beach level (for turtle-nesting beaches) were important factors in explaining differences in plastic abundance and density around the island. Our results highlight the significance of high plastic pollution accumulation on remote islands.