Marine pollution bulletin最新文献

This study investigates sediment samples from the Indian Sundarbans' mangrove habitat, where most samples were alkaline and hypersaline, except for one acidic sample. Elemental analysis revealed poor sediment quality, with elevated Enrichment Factors (2.20-9.7), Geo-accumulation indices (-2.19-1.19), Contamination Factors (0.61-3.18), and Pollution Load Indices (1.04-1.32). Toxic metal ions, including Pb, Cu, Ni, Cd, Zn, and Cr, were identified as key contributors to compromised sediment quality. These metals inhibit crucial sediment enzymes, such as CMC-cellulase, β-glucosidase, aryl sulfatase, urease, and phosphatases, essential for nutrient cycling and organic matter decomposition. A negative correlation was found between heavy metals and biodiversity, as indicated by the Shannon index, and a similar trend was observed with fungal load. The study highlights the adverse effects of persistent trace metals on the fungal community, potentially disrupting the mangrove ecosystem and suggests using manglicolous fungi as biological indicators of environmental health.

The Philippines are projected to be a top contributor to oceanic plastic pollution by 2025, ranking first globally for riverine plastic emissions. However, comprehensive empirical data on litter leakage is lacking, impeding accurate estimates and mitigation efforts. We conducted the first thorough assessment of plastic within a 100 km radius of Davao City, Mindanao, Philippines using a stratified random sampling design. We detected 13,970 debris items across 309 transects from 33 coastal, 27 river, and 44 inland sites, and collected 1405 debris items from 27 sea surface trawls. Riverbanks showed the highest plastic pollution densities, averaging 3.6 items per m². Food wrappers and labels, both whole and fragmented, were the most abundant items across all site types, highlighting the Filipino "tingi" culture of buying and trading in small quantities. We recommend focusing on river hotspots and commonly reported items, particularly food packaging and sachets, to manage plastic pollution effectively.

This study investigated the operational effectiveness and social acceptance of bioplastic gillnets made from a biobased polyester blend used to develop a monofilament 0.33 mm in diameter, with linear density of 108 tex, tenacity of 24.4 cN/tex and breaking force of 3.12 daN. The bioplastic gillnets were tested on 10 small-scale, in-shore vessels operating in the Mediterranean for 12 months. Findings demonstrate reduced effectiveness of the bioplastic nets compared to conventional nets, with reduced strength and increased stiffness influencing catch rates. Economic concerns and performance issues are critical factors affecting the acceptance of bioplastic nets by fishermen. The study highlights the need for continued research and development to improve the mechanical properties and performance of biobased fishing gear, and for the adoption of policy measures to incentivize the uptake and use of sustainable alternatives that can mitigate the impacts of lost or discarded fishing gear on marine ecosystems.

This paper describes the microplastic problems on five sandy beaches along the Skikda coastline (southwestern Mediterranean, northeastern Algeria), defining their magnitudes, spatial-temporal distributions, shapes, polymer types, impacts, and potential sources. The data presented in this study were collected during two field surveys in May (spring) and September (autumn/fall) of 2019. Overall, the average abundance of microplastics across all beaches was 6174 items/m² in spring and 6183 items/m² in autumn, representing the highest level of MPs ever reported in Algeria. The most common microplastic types found were fragments, pellets, foams and fibers, accounting for >98 % of the microplastic shapes collected in this study. Our findings highlight the persistence of MPs on the studied beaches and that environmental factors such as currents, wind directions, beaching, sedimentation, dunes, and fragmentation all significantly impact the distribution and accumulation of plastic debris on beaches.

This study aimed to evaluate metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) adsorption on new plastic fishing nets in both laboratory and quasi-real scenario (nets submersed in marina seawater) experiments as well as in situ monitoring of these contaminants in water and sediments in lost fishing gears hotspots. The latter was inconclusive as environmental contaminants levels were very low. Laboratory experiments showed metals (copper and lead) and PAHs adsorption depended on the thickness and polymeric composition of the net, being lower in thinner nylon nets. Experiments in the marina, also showed significant contaminants adsorption, which increased over time, probably due to biofilm formation on net surface. This work showed the potential role of fishing gears as skins of pollutants, increasing organisms' exposition to contaminants present in the environment. So, initiatives to prevent the loss of fishing gear and to retrieve them are needed to reduce and/or eliminate their environmental impact.

Microplastics are everywhere, including marine sediment. In this study, we evaluated the degradation of polyester, rayon, and cotton sewing threads over nine months when buried in marine sediment in Waitematā Harbour, Auckland, New Zealand. Polyester tensile strength was tested pre- and post-burial to track changes over time. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis enabled the examination of the change to the chemical structural integrity of the polyester molecules over time. After one month, rayon and cotton degraded and were invisible to the eye, while visible signs of polyester degradation were apparent after 6 months of burial. This was confirmed by both tensile strength testing and FTIR chemical analysis. While microplastic pollution remains a serious problem, these findings show that at least one type of common plastic does degrade when buried in marine sediments. This likely has implications for seafloor ecosystem functionality and provides hope for plastic circular economy infrastructure.

Heavy metal pollution in aquatic ecosystems can lead to harmful accumulation in organisms like stingrays, posing potential health risks to humans. To assess this risk, 45 stingrays were sampled from Johor Waters (Pontian, Muar, and Batu Pahat) and analyzed for heavy metal content using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). The average concentrations of Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Pb, and Hg in the fillets were 0.982±0.637, 31.3±5.93, 93.57±24.5, 0.039±0.047, 0.158±0.036, and 0.592±0.424 μg/g dw, respectively. Arsenic (As) was found at the highest concentration. The study indicates that fish size does not directly influence heavy metal accumulation and that metal levels vary by location. Calculated consumption limits for different metals are crucial for human safety. This data is valuable for evaluating contamination risks and guiding future research to protect marine ecosystems in Johor Waters.

The high number of offshore platforms at the end of their productive phase offers the opportunity of their re-use and the development of effective management solutions, such as the possibility of utilizing them as ecological observatories for monitoring marine ecosystems and their biological resources. Here, through a multiparametric observatory deployed at an unproductive offshore platform, located in the Central Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea), we collected data for 13 months on benthopelagic fish assemblage and habitat conditions. A total of 155.5 h of high-frequency (30 min) video-monitoring, recorded higher fish abundances during spring-summer periods during daytime, while fish diversity was highest in autumn. Some environmental variables contributed significantly to explain the overall community variance. Our results suggest that offshore platforms can be re-converted into ecological observatories, to collect relevant amounts of information that can be difficulty obtained with alternative approaches, contributing to our understanding of changes occurring in open water ecosystems.

The Canadian Arctic is a large and diverse geographic area that encompasses a wide variety of environmental conditions and ecosystems. Over recent decades, marine transportation has increased across the Arctic and, as a result, so has the likelihood of an oil spill. The study of oil spills in the Arctic presents unique challenges compared to temperate marine environments, due to remoteness, cold temperatures and the presence of snow and ice throughout much of the year. This review summarizes and discusses the fate of oil in the Canadian Arctic. A brief introduction to the Canadian Arctic and sources of potential petroleum spills is provided, followed by discussions of the behaviour of oil in ice and freezing temperatures, oil-sediment interactions, and the weathering and natural remediation of oil under Arctic conditions. A summary of perspectives concludes the review, with emphasis on possible areas of future work to address research gaps.

With the development of the cruise industry, the associated pollution and social impact issues are becoming more severe. The objective of this study is, therefore, to identify the significant impact factors in the cruise development process and to analyze their effects on the natural environment, economy and society. To this end, the study first identified the dimensions and criteria through interviews with experts and a literature review, grouping the dimensions of impact cost into 'natural environment', 'economic' and 'social' using the best-worst method (BWM) resulting in four impact factors included under each dimension, totalling 12 criteria. Methodologically, these criteria were sorted by weight using BWM, resulting in the six most influential factors, which were, in order, 'wastewater, oil pollution and toxic substances', 'exhaust gas and noise', 'low consumption willingness and failure to meet expectations', 'causing urban congestion and traffic jams', 'changing the residents' original lifestyle' and 'vectors of infectious disease transmission'. Following this, the causal diagrams between the various criteria were drawn with the causal relationships between the factors analyzed using the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method. The results of the study showed that 'causing urban congestion and traffic jams' is the key core factor directly affecting the other five. These findings can assist the cruise industry and the local government in formulating effective preventive and improvement measures to minimise the negative environmental and social impacts of cruise development and to ensure the sustainable development of the industry. This study also has important implications for future management and policy formulation in the cruise industry.