Abstract
The Mediterranean Sea and its coastal systems are threatened by intense anthropogenic pressures including rapid accumulation of marine litter by diverse human activities. The region, which is the world’s leading touristic destination, has to face a seasonal increase of waste generation due to the seasonal influx of visitors. The beaches, extremely crowded during the summer, are particularly vulnerable since they are proven to be concentrated accumulation zones and one of the main gateways of litter to enter the marine system. We found that the accumulation rates of marine litter on Mediterranean island beaches follow a seasonal pattern, increasing up to 4.7 times during the high season, representing a daily load of (40.6 ± 11.5) 106 items/day extrapolated to all the islands of the region. We developed an accumulation index to assess the dynamics of marine litter and support efficient mitigation strategies by local authorities. To limit marine litter production attributable to recreational activities, a series of pilot actions implemented during the high touristic season, demonstrated a substantial reduction (up to 52.5%). The implementation towards an efficient and sustainable tourism business model is urgently required.
Highlights
The Mediterranean Sea and its coastal systems are threatened by intense anthropogenic pressures including rapid accumulation of marine litter by diverse human activities
With a coastal population of nearly 150 million inhabitants, the influx of freshwater from densely populated river catchments and a contribution to 15–30% of the global shipping a ctivity[9,10], the Mediterranean Sea has been recognized as one of the most affected areas in the world by marine litter[11]. In addition to these stressors, the countries surrounding the region yearly attract about one third of the world tourism[12]. These anthropogenic pressures make this semi-enclosed sea, characterized by an anti-estuarine circulation[13], an accumulation zone for marine litter, with for example concentrations of floating plastics debris comparable to those observed within the five subtropical g yres[14,15,16]
When we look at the items from the “shoreline, including poor waste management, tourism and recreational activities” (ST category, i.e. the items most likely left on the beaches by the visitors), the five most frequent for the surveys of 2017 are cigarette butts (12.4%), plastic caps and lids (3.5%), cutlery, trays and straws (1.6%), crisp, sweet packets and lolly sticks (1.4%) and metal bottle caps (0.7%); in agreement with previous studies[29,30]
Summary
The Mediterranean Sea and its coastal systems are threatened by intense anthropogenic pressures including rapid accumulation of marine litter by diverse human activities. We present the results of marine litter monitoring surveys performed on 24 beaches, going from remote to highly touristic sites, of Mediterranean islands during both the low and high touristic season of 2017.
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