Evaluating marine environmental pollution using Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP): A comprehensive framework for sustainable coastal and oceanic management

Marine pollution poses a significant threat to ecosystems, biodiversity, and human health, necessitating a structured evaluation framework. This study applies the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) to prioritize five major marine pollution sources: chemical contaminants, microplastics, oil spills, eutrophication, and noise pollution. The FAHP results indicate that chemical contaminants (0.312) pose the highest risk, followed by microplastics (0.256), oil spills (0.182), eutrophication (0.147), and noise pollution (0.103). Sensitivity analysis confirms ranking stability, with slight variations when specific impact dimensions are prioritized. The findings emphasize the urgent need for regulatory enforcement on industrial discharge, microplastic bans, and oil spill prevention strategies. While eutrophication and noise pollution rank lower, their regional and long-term impacts warrant targeted mitigation efforts. Despite methodological strengths, limitations include expert judgment subjectivity and regional variability in pollution severity. Future research should focus on real-time pollution monitoring and interdependency assessments. This study provides a structured, quantifiable, and regionally adaptable basis for policymakers and environmental managers to prioritize pollution sources. While the types of marine pollutants addressed are broadly recognized, this work offers a reproducible decision-support model tailored to regional environmental contexts and resource constraints, supporting more effective, targeted mitigation strategies.