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Microplastic in the marine environment of the Red Sea – A short review
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Researchers review the growing body of evidence on microplastic pollution in the Red Sea, where studies conducted over the past five years reveal significant contamination in the water, sediments, and marine life. This matters because the Red Sea supports major fisheries and tourism, and microplastics that accumulate in seafood can ultimately reach humans who eat it.
Microplastics are omnipresent in the marine environment. Their bioaccumulation in fish and other marine biota is a concern due to the potential human health risks from exposure through seafood sold in markets. There is a global effort afoot to take inventory of microplastic contamination in the world’s main water bodies. This includes an understanding of the sources, the trophic transfer and the fate of microplastics in aquatic systems. Studies on the state of microplastic pollution in the Red Sea have appeared only in the last 5 years. Nevertheless, they gave insight into the abundance of microplastic particles within the marine environment of the Red Sea. The following is a review of these studies.
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Microplastics were found in nearshore sediments at all sampled stations along the Jeddah coast of Saudi Arabia's Red Sea, and in about half of 140 sampled fish. The findings demonstrate that even the Red Sea — an important but less-studied ocean region — is experiencing widespread microplastic contamination.
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Researchers conducted a comprehensive assessment of plastic pollution across multiple environmental compartments of the Red Sea — including surface water, the water column, and deep-sea sediments — finding that deep-sea sediments hold up to 80% of microplastics in the basin and that subsurface water layers act as significant reservoirs, complicating global microplastic load estimates based solely on surface water data.
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This review assessed marine litter in the Red Sea using a structured framework and found that the ecosystem faces growing threats from both land-based and sea-based plastic sources, despite limited regional research. The authors call for stronger regional and national policy responses to protect the Red Sea's unique biodiversity from plastic contamination.
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This is the first study to document microplastics in marine invertebrates along Egypt's Red Sea coast, examining 11 species of clams, snails, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers. Every animal sampled contained microplastics, with filter-feeding bivalves showing the highest concentrations per gram of tissue. The plastics identified were linked to tourism-related sources, highlighting how coastal recreation contributes to wildlife contamination.
Quantifying microplastics pollution in the Red Sea and Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba: Insights from chemical analysis and pollution load assessment
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This first comprehensive survey of microplastic pollution along Egyptian Red Sea shores found mostly low to medium levels of plastic contamination, with a marine protected area (Ras Mohamed) showing surprisingly high vulnerability. All particles were secondary fragments of weathered plastic, primarily polyethylene and polypropylene, linked mainly to maritime cargo and recreational boat traffic rather than land-based waste. The findings fill a significant geographic gap in global microplastic monitoring and highlight tourism and shipping as key management targets in this ecologically sensitive and endemic-rich region.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.