Global research priorities to mitigate plastic pollution impacts on marine wildlife

Abstract

Marine wildlife faces a growing number of threats across the globe, and the survival of many species and populations will be dependent on conservation action. One threat in particular that has emerged over the last 4 decades is the pollution of oceanic and coastal habitats with plastic debris. The increased occurrence of plastics in marine ecosystems mirrors the increased prevalence of plastics in society, and reflects the high durability and persistence of plastics in the environment. In an effort to guide future research and assist mitigation approaches to marine conservation, we have generated a list of 16 priority research questions based on the expert opinions of 26 researchers from around the world, whose research expertise spans several disciplines, and covers each of the world's oceans and the taxa most at risk from plastic pollution. This paper highlights a growing concern related to threats posed to marine wildlife from microplastics and fragmented debris, the need for data at scales relevant to management, and the urgent need to develop interdisciplinary research and management partnerships to limit the release of plastics into the environment and curb the future impacts of plastic pollution.

A global review of marine turtle entanglement in anthropogenic debris: a baseline for further action

“…Entanglement in plastic debris is recognised as a major risk for many marine species (Laist 1987, Vegter et al 2014). This has become sufficiently high profile that the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) Technical Subgroup on Marine Litter has announced that it will develop a dedicated monitoring protocol for its next report (MSFD GES Technical Subgroup on Marine Litter 2011).…”

“…Additionally, it is important to understand the variation in entanglement rates among species and life stages to better evaluate vulnerability and the frequency of interactions with different debris types (N elms et al 2016). Once these have been established, opportunities for delivering effective education and awareness can be given or other mitigation planned (Vegter et al 2014).…”

“…We sought to answer key knowledge gaps surrounding the issue of turtle entanglement in marine debris as previously highlighted by Vegter et al (2014) and Nelms et al (2016). Difficulties in investigating these knowledge gaps are in part due to a lack of robust data.…”

Plastic Pollution Patterns in Offshore, Nearshore and Estuarine Waters: A Case Study from Perth, Western Australia

“…High concentrations have also been recorded near coastal population centers with the consensus being, that they are the main source of marine plastic debris (Corcoran et al, 2009;Jambeck et al, 2015). An often cited statistic proposes that 80% of all marine plastic pollution is sourced directly from land-based sources, particularly from urban areas (Vegter et al, 2014;Jambeck et al, 2015). This shifted the focus more recently toward studies of the state of pollution in localized coastal waters (Thompson et al, 2004;Yamashita and Tanimura, 2007;Doyle et al, 2011;Thiel et al, 2013;Isobe et al, 2015).…”

Exceptional and rapid accumulation of anthropogenic debris on one of the world’s most remote and pristine islands

“…They include quantifying plastic directly through at-sea trawl data (12) or indirectly by studying interactions with wildlife, e.g., frequency of ingestion or entanglement (13). For example, more than 200 species are now known to be at risk from the ingestion of plastic (14,15), with evidence that some species exhibit preferences for certain colors or types of plastic while foraging at sea (16,17). Importantly, beach surveys provide similar and often complementary data on sources, patterns, and trends in the abundance and sources of marine plastic (18,19).…”