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Fragmented marine plastics as the prevalent litter type on a small island beach in the Adriatic
Summary
Researchers documented extensive plastic contamination on a sandy beach on a small Adriatic island across three sampling periods spanning nearly a decade. They found that fragmented hard plastics were the most common litter type, with concentrations varying substantially between sampling years. The study reveals that even remote island beaches far from major population centers accumulate significant levels of plastic pollution, including large microplastics.
The issue of plastic pollution has dramatically intensified in the recent years. Our study investigates extensive plastic contamination of a sandy beach on a small Adriatic island. The beach was sampled on three occasions, in 2013, 2020 and 2022, using 1 m quadrats placed along the lower and upper strandlines, resulting in average litter concentrations of 385 ± 106, 1095 ± 522 and 129 ± 37 item m, respectively. The lower size limit of collected litter was 1 mm, thus including large microplastics. Plastic fragments (49-74 %) and plastic pellets (15 %-37 %) were predominant litter categories. The proportion of fragments is significantly higher during the tourist season with a more intensive cleaning regime (April-October), as opposed to the off-season (November-March). Fisheries and aquaculture litter was identified as a relevant source of pollution. More research is needed in the future into the microplastics smaller than 1 mm.