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The abundance, characteristics and diversity of microplastics in the South China Sea: Observation around three remote islands
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Floating microplastics in the South China Sea around three remote islands reached median concentrations of 1.9×10⁵ items/km², with polypropylene dominating and transparent films comprising the majority — pointing to household and agricultural plastic consumption as primary sources. Fish and mollusks in these waters were also found to have ingested microplastics, confirming active bioaccumulation in marine food webs of a region surrounded by high-plastic-use emerging markets.
Surrounded by emerging markets with considerable plastic consumption, the South China Sea has been a focus area of microplastic research. A survey on the floating microplastics (> 0.3 mm) and microplastics ingested by fish and mollusks was conducted around three remote islands here. Compared with the results from several previous studies, a high abundance of floating microplastics (with a median of 1.9 × 105 items/km2 or 0.7 items/m3) was observed, revealing another “hot spot” for microplastics. Polyolefin, especially polypropylene, was the main component. The diversity index and evenness index were calculated and evaluated based on the composition of microplastics. The characteristic peaks of Raman spectra concerning pigmented microplastics were provided. Transparent sheets/films were predominant in the water sample, which was quite different from a similar study in this sea area (8.9% for film), and only 16.4% of floating microplastics (> 0.3 mm) were fibers/lines, implying that the main sources of floating microplastics (> 0.3 mm) might be household/agricultural consumption activities. The transparent fiber/line was also dominant in organisms. It is suggested that the main sources of microplastics ingested by organisms might be both fabric fibers and fishing/aquaculture.
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Researchers sampled surface and bottom seawater in the Beibu Gulf of the South China Sea and found microplastic abundances averaging 1.35 items per cubic meter at the surface, with sources traced to fishing, aquaculture, and land-based plastic waste, and polymer hazard indices indicating elevated chemical risk despite low overall pollution load.
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Surveys of a tropical tourism island in Hainan, China found microplastic abundance of 1,117 items/kg in terrestrial soils — dominated by polypropylene and polyethylene fragments from tourism infrastructure — and 275–755 items/kg in nearshore sediments where fishing and domestic sewage contributed fibrous PET particles. The study shows tourism-driven islands face elevated terrestrial microplastic loads with distinct sources and polymer compositions compared to adjacent marine sediments.
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