| Title | Visual observations of floating macro litter around Italy (Mediterranean Sea) |
| Abstract | We report the results of a visual survey of floating natural (NML) and anthropogenic (AML) macro-litter (>2.5 cm) performed in the central part of the Mediterranean Sea during a dual-use campaign onboard the Italian Navy tall ship "Amerigo Vespucci" which circumnavigated the Italian peninsula during May-June 2016. The distribution, abundance and composition of floating marine litter was assessed using a 10 m fixed-width strip transect method. Over 88 h of transect counts were performed, for a total of 168 transects, covering an overall survey length of 1026.35 km. 4756 anthropogenic litter items were counted during the transects, 96.9 % of which were classified as plastic items. Floating litter was found throughout the entire study area with densities ranging from 0 to 9205 items/km(2) and with a mean abundance of 492 AML items/km= and 77 NML items/km= across all surveyed locations. Maximum AML densities (>3500 items/km(2)) were recorded in the Adriatic Sea, while the lowest densities (<50 items/km(2)) were found along the coastline of Sardinia and in the Strait of Messina. Our results document the ubiquitous presence of floating plastic litter around the Italian peninsula and underline the need to expand our knowledge about the main sources, transport, accumulation and fate of marine litter in the entire Mediterranean region. |
| Source | Mediterranean Marine Science 20 (2), pp. 271–281 |
| Keywords | Plastic pollutionFloating litterMarine litterMediterranean SeaMarine pollutionVisual survey |
| Journal | Mediterranean Marine Science |
| Editor | National Centre for Marine Research, Athens, Grecia |
| Year | 2019 |
| Type | Articolo in rivista |
| DOI | 10.12681/mms.19054 |
| Authors | Campanale, Claudia; Suaria, Giuseppe; Bagnuolo, Giuseppe; Baini, Matteo; Galli, Matteo; De Rysky, Erica; Ballini, Matilde; Aliani, Stefano; Fossi, Maria Cristina; Uricchio, Vito Felice |
| Text | 416064 2019 10.12681/mms.19054 ISI Web of Science WOS 000486930900003 Plastic pollution Floating litter Marine litter Mediterranean Sea Marine pollution Visual survey Visual observations of floating macro litter around Italy Mediterranean Sea Campanale, Claudia; Suaria, Giuseppe; Bagnuolo, Giuseppe; Baini, Matteo; Galli, Matteo; De Rysky, Erica; Ballini, Matilde; Aliani, Stefano; Fossi, Maria Cristina; Uricchio, Vito Felice 1 IRSA CNR, Natl Res Council, Water Res Inst, Bari, Italy 2 ISMAR CNR, Natl Res Council, Inst Marine Sci, Pozzuolo Di Lerici, Italy 3 IEO COB, Palma De Mallorca, Spain 4 Univ Siena, Dept Phys Earth Environm Sci, Siena, Italy We report the results of a visual survey of floating natural NML and anthropogenic AML macro litter >2.5 cm performed in the central part of the Mediterranean Sea during a dual use campaign onboard the Italian Navy tall ship Amerigo Vespucci which circumnavigated the Italian peninsula during May June 2016. The distribution, abundance and composition of floating marine litter was assessed using a 10 m fixed width strip transect method. Over 88 h of transect counts were performed, for a total of 168 transects, covering an overall survey length of 1026.35 km. 4756 anthropogenic litter items were counted during the transects, 96.9 % of which were classified as plastic items. Floating litter was found throughout the entire study area with densities ranging from 0 to 9205 items/km 2 and with a mean abundance of 492 AML items/km= and 77 NML items/km= across all surveyed locations. Maximum AML densities >3500 items/km 2 were recorded in the Adriatic Sea, while the lowest densities <50 items/km 2 were found along the coastline of Sardinia and in the Strait of Messina. Our results document the ubiquitous presence of floating plastic litter around the Italian peninsula and underline the need to expand our knowledge about the main sources, transport, accumulation and fate of marine litter in the entire Mediterranean region. 20 Published version Articolo in rivista National Centre for Marine Research 1108 393X Mediterranean Marine Science Mediterranean Marine Science Mediterr. Mar. Sci. Mediterranean Marine Science. claudiacampanale CAMPANALE CLAUDIA stefano.aliani ALIANI STEFANO vitofelice.uricchio URICCHIO VITO FELICE giuseppe.suaria SUARIA GIUSEPPE giuseppe.bagnuolo BAGNUOLO GIUSEPPE |
