Marine litter is human-created waste that has been discharged into the coastal or marine environment. Specifically, marine litter (or debris) is defined as “any anthropogenic, manufactured, or processed solid material (regardless of size) discarded, disposed of, or abandoned in the environment, including all materials discarded into the sea, on the shore, or brought indirectly to the sea by rivers, sewage, storm water, waves, or winds” [1; 2]. Furthermore, plastic pollution in aquatic systems is an emerging problem that is gaining worldwide attention in particular because their extensive use and applications favour their presence as a result of improper waste management as outlined by Jambeck et al. [3], but the reuse and recycling of end-of-life plastics is very low. One way to reduce plastic pollution is to increase the knowledge and understanding of plastic pollution among people. The present study aims to analyze and to quantify the abundance, weight and compositions of marine litter along two beaches of Asinara Island (Cala dei Ponzesi and Cala Spalmatore, Sardegna, Italy) during three surveys (winter 2017, spring 2019 and summer 2019). The method used for the marine litter characterization was based on the guidelines of UNEP [4; 5], of the Joint Research Centre [6] and on the IPA ADRIATIC project DEFISHGEAR. The preliminary results indicate that 1917 items have been collected at Cala dei Ponzesi (about 1,9 items/m2), while 816 items have been identified during the two surveys of 2019 (about 2 kg, with a density of 0,81 items/m2). At Cala Spalmatore, 289 marine debris have been collected during the two surveys of 2019 (about 3 kg with a density of 0,21 items/m2). Furthermore, from the analysis of the marine debris, it appears that plastic is the most important category of litter and, plastic fragments, lolly sticks, plastic caps/lids unidentified and string and cord (diameter less than 1 cm) are the most frequent debris.
Distribuzione del marine litter nelle spiagge della Sardegna: il caso di Cala dei Ponzesi e di Cala Spalmatore nell’isola dell’Asinara
Corbau, Corinne
;Lazarou, Alexandre;Simeoni, Umberto;
2020
Abstract
Marine litter is human-created waste that has been discharged into the coastal or marine environment. Specifically, marine litter (or debris) is defined as “any anthropogenic, manufactured, or processed solid material (regardless of size) discarded, disposed of, or abandoned in the environment, including all materials discarded into the sea, on the shore, or brought indirectly to the sea by rivers, sewage, storm water, waves, or winds” [1; 2]. Furthermore, plastic pollution in aquatic systems is an emerging problem that is gaining worldwide attention in particular because their extensive use and applications favour their presence as a result of improper waste management as outlined by Jambeck et al. [3], but the reuse and recycling of end-of-life plastics is very low. One way to reduce plastic pollution is to increase the knowledge and understanding of plastic pollution among people. The present study aims to analyze and to quantify the abundance, weight and compositions of marine litter along two beaches of Asinara Island (Cala dei Ponzesi and Cala Spalmatore, Sardegna, Italy) during three surveys (winter 2017, spring 2019 and summer 2019). The method used for the marine litter characterization was based on the guidelines of UNEP [4; 5], of the Joint Research Centre [6] and on the IPA ADRIATIC project DEFISHGEAR. The preliminary results indicate that 1917 items have been collected at Cala dei Ponzesi (about 1,9 items/m2), while 816 items have been identified during the two surveys of 2019 (about 2 kg, with a density of 0,81 items/m2). At Cala Spalmatore, 289 marine debris have been collected during the two surveys of 2019 (about 3 kg with a density of 0,21 items/m2). Furthermore, from the analysis of the marine debris, it appears that plastic is the most important category of litter and, plastic fragments, lolly sticks, plastic caps/lids unidentified and string and cord (diameter less than 1 cm) are the most frequent debris.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
