Assessment of marine debris on the coastal wetland of Martil in the North-East of Morocco

Alshawafi, Adel; Analla, Mohamed; Alwashali, Ebrahim; Aksissou, Mustapha

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.01.079

Cited by 61 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Nevertheless, Morocco reaches a value between 0.05 and 0.12 million tons of mismanaged plastic waste per year (18th among the top waste producers) ( Jambeck et al, 2015 ). Many studies investigating marine litter in the Moroccan Mediterranean beaches revealed a high abundance of plastics ( Alshawafi et al, 2017 ; Maziane et al, 2018 ; Loulad et al, 2019 ; Nachite et al, 2019 ; Mghili et al, 2020 ). Nevertheless, investigations about plastic pollution are still scarce and have focused on fish ( Alshawafi et al, 2018 ; Maaghloud et al, 2020 ), sediment, and surface water ( Haddout et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personal protective equipment (PPE) pollution associated with the COVID-19 pandemic along the coastline of Agadir, Morocco

Ben-Haddad

De-la-Torre

Abelouah

et al. 2021

Science of The Total Environment

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The increasing use of personal protective equipment (PPE) as a sanitary measure against the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has become a significant source of many environmental risks. The majority of the governments enforce the use of PPE in public areas, such as beaches. Thus, the use and disposal of PPE have compromised most solid waste management strategies, ultimately leading to the occurrence of PPE polluting the marine environment. The present study aimed to monitor the PPE pollution associated with COVID-19 along the coastline of Agadir, Morocco. In parallel, the influence of the activities carried out in each sampled beach before and after the lockdown break was reported. Overall, a total number of 689 PPE items were identified, with a mean density of 1.13 × 10 −5 PPE m −2 (0–1.21 × 10 −4 PPE m −2 ). The majority of the PPE items found were face masks (96.81%), out of which 98.4% were surgical masks and 1.6% were reusable cloth masks. The most polluted sites were the beaches with recreational activities, followed by surfing, and fishing as the main activity. Importantly, PPE density increased significantly after lockdown measures. Additionally, the discarded PPE sampled in the supralittoral zone was higher than PPE recorded in the intertidal zone. This confirms that PPE items are driven by the beachgoers during their visit. PPE items are a source of microplastic and chemical pollutants, a substrate to invasive species colonization, and a potential threat of entanglement, ingestion, and/or infection among apex predators. In the specific case of Agadir beaches, significant efforts are required to work on the lack of environmental awareness and education. It is recommended to improve beach cleaning strategies and to penalize incorrect PPE disposal. Additional alternatives may be adopted, as the involvement of biodegradable materials in PPE manufacturing, recycling through pyrolysis, and encouraging reusable and washable masks.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personal protective equipment (PPE) pollution associated with the COVID-19 pandemic along the coastline of Agadir, Morocco

Ben-Haddad

De-la-Torre

Abelouah

et al. 2021

Science of The Total Environment

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“…They found riparian zone density in their sites was comparable to global beach averages, but that river benthic accumulation proved higher than in marine benthic environments (McCormick and Hoellein, 2016). In a shoreline study of the coastal wetland Martil in North-East Morocco, Alshawafi et al (2017) found plastic (57%) dominated macrodebris types, and also noted its composition in micro-plastics including 26.9% foam, 7.8% fishing line, and 1.23% film. In a unique study analyzing data from the African duck, Reynolds and Ryan (2018) found that micro-fibers existed in 5% of fecal and 10% of feather samples, indicating a threat to freshwater systems and the wildlife residing there.…”

Section: Background Understanding Freshwater Littermentioning

confidence: 92%

Adapting Coastal Collection Methods for River Assessment to Increase Data on Global Plastic Pollution: Examples From India and Indonesia

Owens

Kamil²

2020

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Marine debris often begins as litter or waste on land. Rivers play an important role in transporting this debris from communities to ocean systems, and yet we lack data on debris in freshwater systems. This work promotes eliminating the gap in knowledge between debris in marine and freshwater systems through use of a consistent, replicable methodology that can be used to improve data on freshwater shoreline debris. Expansion in the application of this method globally can allow researchers to ground-truth estimates of the debris entering the world's oceans via rivers. Widespread use of this method would provide data on the litter degrading in the world's riverine systems, an important ecological problem in its own right often sidelined in work on marine debris. Improved ground-truthing will also shed light on the missing plastics question: the disparity between input estimates and measurement of plastic waste in the world's oceans. Cataloging the way debris moves through, and remains a part of, freshwater systems is imperative to addressing the global plastic waste problem. Here we share examples of how the method has been applied in the Tukad Badung river in Indonesia and the Karamana river in India.

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“…For each type of bag, different amounts of pieces were placed into clean glass flasks to obtain liquid-to-solid (water-to-plastic) ratios of 100, 10 and 5, corresponding respectively to approximately 8.3 x 10 -4 , 8.3 x 10 -3 and 1.6 x 10 -2 bag/mL, hereafter referred to as low (L), intermediate (I) and high (H) pollution degree. These ratios were chosen to mimic various degrees of bag pollution occurring in natural sandy shores (Alshawafi et al, 2017;Munari et al, 2016;Pasternak et al, 2017;Schmuck et al, 2017). To obtain bag leachates, sterilized deionized water with a pH value (6.40 ± 0.03) similar to that of the rainwater of the coastal Mediterranean basin (Loye-Pilot et al, 1986) was used.…”

Section: Preparation and Chemical/physical Analysis Of Bag Leachatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the present study, we focused on the effects of the leaching of shopper bags by water on the most vulnerable life history stages of dune plants, germination and early seedling growth (Balestri and Cinelli, 2004;Maun 2009;Rajaniemi and Barrett, 2018). Shopper bags made of conventional not biodegradable polymers such as high-density polyethylene (HDPE) are among the most common types of plastic item found along sandy shores and dunes (Alshawafi et al, 2017;Munari et al, 2016;Pasternak et al, 2017;Schmuck et al, 2017;Šilc et al, 2018). Most of these bags derives from land-based sources, such as runoff from rivers and wind-blown litter, or marine-based sources (maritime traffic), but some bags are deliberately or unintentionally discarded directly on beaches by beachgoers (Ryan et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure of coastal dune vegetation to plastic bag leachates: A neglected impact of plastic litter

Menicagli

Balestri

Lardicci

2019

Science of The Total Environment

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Assessment of marine debris on the coastal wetland of Martil in the North-East of Morocco

Cited by 61 publications

References 23 publications

Personal protective equipment (PPE) pollution associated with the COVID-19 pandemic along the coastline of Agadir, Morocco

Personal protective equipment (PPE) pollution associated with the COVID-19 pandemic along the coastline of Agadir, Morocco

Adapting Coastal Collection Methods for River Assessment to Increase Data on Global Plastic Pollution: Examples From India and Indonesia

Exposure of coastal dune vegetation to plastic bag leachates: A neglected impact of plastic litter

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