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Background: Fishing activity is a major source of marine litter on beaches, but most studies focus on recreational beaches. In this study, we assessed the abundance, composition, source and spatial distribution of marine litter on ten fishing beaches along Palk Bay, on the southeast coast of India. We also used social media to collect data on the impact of fishing litter on marine animals in the study area. Results: A total of 4,227 marine litter and their average density of 0.70 items/m2 were collected. Plastic (84.54%) is the most abundant in the study area, followed by cloths (7.46%), glass (5.19%), and rubber (3.47%). From the result, the value of CCI ranges from 6.26 to 25.7 indicating that the coast is "moderately clean" to "extremely dirty". The majority of the marine litter collected originated from fishing activity. The most common are string and cord, fishing lines, fishing gear, floats and buoys. Conclusion: The presence of this type of marine litter can produce serious environmental issues, such as ghost fishing, that impacts a large variety of marine species. A total of 25 of the olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) were entangled in fishing litter between 2018 and 2020. Most of the reported entanglements were due to discarded or lost fishing gear, which shows the importance of managing this type of litter in India. It is important to manage the litter related to the fishing activity by educating fishermen and organizing clean-up campaigns.

28Oceans are absorbing about one-third of the anthropogenic CO2 from the atmosphere, and 29 the excess CO2 leads to reduce the seawater pH, carbonate ion concentrations and saturation 30 states of biologically important calcium carbonate minerals. The ocean acidification affects many 31 calcifying organisms such as foraminifera. The present study assessed experimentally modified 32 ocean pH impacts on survival rate and shell morphology variation in three species of intertidal 33 benthic foraminifera. Foraminifera was collected from Parangipettai coastal waters, Tamilnadu, 34 India. Foraminiferal specimens were cultured for a period of five weeks at three different pH 35 treatments that replicated future scenarios of a high CO2 and low pH. The experimental results 36 revealed that reduction of seawater pH significantly affected foraminiferal survival and 37 morphology. Scanning Electron Microscopic observations revealed significant changes in 38 foraminiferal morphology with clear evidence of dissolution and cracking processes on the test 39 surface, and reduction in teeth structure in treatments with decreasing pH. Hence, altering the 40 seawater chemistry might have extensive impacts on benthic foraminifera. 41 42 43 44 45 46 47