Maritime ports and beach management as sources of coastal macro-, meso-, and microplastic pollution

Impact of storms and proximity to entry points on marine litter and wrack accumulation along Mediterranean beaches: Management implications

“…Our study reveals that Tuscany beaches located closer to major harbors exhibited a greater litter density. This finding is consistent with a recent study showing a positive relationship between macro-plastic abundance and proximity of sites with intense fishing activity (Masiá et al, 2021), but it disagrees with studies reporting a greater litter density in beaches near to river mouths (Rech et al, 2014;Willis et al, 2017;Di Febbraro et al, 2021). Nonetheless, our results shows that the combination of proximity to the closest major harbor and river was the best subset of variables explaining the differences in terms of macro-category observed among the investigated beaches, indicating that both these entry points can play an important role in determining litter composition at regional scale.…”

“…Some studies have found a positive relationship between beach litter abundance and proximity of river mouths (Rech 5 5 et al, 2014;Willis et al, 2017;Di Febbraro et al, 2021). On the other hand, a recent study failed to detect a positive correlation among beach litter abundance and proximity of rivers and harbors (Masiá et al, 2021). This discrepancy in results indicates that the processes affecting litter distribution along the coastline can be variable and quite complex (Fetisov and Chubarenko, 2021).…”

Occurrence of Macro- and Micro-Plastics on Pasir Pandak Beach, Sarawak, Malaysia

“…Fibers (41.88%) were the most abundant microplastics obtained in this study, followed by filaments (40.21 %), fragments (15.48 %) and foams (2.43 %). Several studies, such as by Cai et al (2018); Tata et al (2020);and Masiá et al (2021) also reported fibers as their main microplastic particles found in their studies. It has also been found that fibers can be ingested by some zooplankton in the northern South China Sea (Cai et al, 2018), usually in smaller size (< 0.2 mm) (Sun et al, 2017).…”

“…These microplastic particles might also enter coastal area from the wastewater of domestic discharges. Masiá et al (2021) did not rule out the possibility of fiber ingress from airborne pollution via wind blowing due to its lightweight nature, as this idea was also supported by Cai et al (2017) and Liu et al (2019) studies. Jeyasanta et al (2020) believed that fishing gear and sewage dumping are also other vital sources of fibers, filaments, fragments, and foams to the beach.…”

The coastal waters of the south-east Bay of Biscay a dead-end for neustonic plastics

“…This correlation was also observed for the Mediterranean Sea ( Faure et al, 2015 ). Unlike surface waters, Masiá et al (2021) identified significant correlations between mesoplastics and macroplastics along the southwest beaches of BoB, highlighting that size correlation can differ between different marine compartments. The no-correlation between abundance and monthly sampling stations suggests that sampling stations may be under the same influence for plastic pollution; nonetheless, a wider dataset for the same sampling periods and years would be required to identify monthly and seasonal trends.…”