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The coastal waters of the south-east Bay of Biscay a dead-end for neustonic plastics
Summary
Researchers collected neustonic surface samples along the coastal waters of the south-east Bay of Biscay from 2017 to 2020, finding an average plastic abundance of 739,395 items/km2 with microplastics comprising 93% of items, and demonstrating that French coastal waters had five times higher plastic concentrations than Spanish coasts, consistent with numerical model predictions of this region as a convergence zone.
Numerical models point to the south-east Bay of Biscay as a convergence area for floating particles, including plastics. The few existing studies on plastic abundance in the area mainly focus on open waters and yet information on the coastal area is limited. To fill this gap, neustonic samples were taken along the coastal waters of the south-east Bay of Biscay (2017-2020) to define the spatial distribution of plastic abundances and composition. Results show an average plastic abundance of 739,395 ± 2,625,271 items/km (998 ± 4338 g/km). French waters were more affected, with five times higher plastic abundances than Spanish coasts. Microplastics represented 93 % of the total abundance of plastic items (28 % in weight), mesoplastics 7 % (26 %) and macroplastics 1 % (46 %). This study demonstrates that this area is a hotspot for plastic with levels in coastal waters similar to those in the Mediterranean Sea or other litter aggregation areas.