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A systematic review of microplastic pollution in the ocean: Taking the Mediterranean Sea, the East China Sea, and the Great Australian Bight as examples
Summary
This systematic review examines microplastic pollution across three major sea areas — the Mediterranean, East China Sea, and Great Australian Bight. It finds that nearly all ocean regions are contaminated, with areas near heavy human activity being the worst affected. The review also compares how different countries are responding with policies, offering a useful snapshot of the global scale of ocean microplastic pollution.
Microplastic pollution has drawn great attention from researchers, policymakers, and public health professionals in recent years. At present, almost all sea areas are affected by microplastic pollution to varying degrees, and the sea areas with frequent human activities are particularly polluted. In this paper, we selected three representative sea areas with various microplastic pollution levels and different geographic and demographic characteristics, and for each of the selected sea areas, we reviewed, analyzed, and summarized the current microplastic pollution situation, sources of the microplastic pollution, and distribution and key features of the microplastic pollution and focuses on the pollution situation and sources of microplastic pollution in different sea areas. In addition, we evaluated and compared the response policies of the surrounding countries of each sea area. Our analysis can provide insights for future studies and treatments of oceanic microplastic pollution under different conditions.