Impact of the marine litter pollution on the Mediterranean biodiversity: A risk assessment study with focus on the marine protected areas

• DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112169
• Publication Date: 2021-03-07T22:19:02Z
• Authors: J. Soto-Navarro; G. Jordá; M. Compa; C. Alomar; M.C. Fossi; S. Deudero
• Keywords: Marine debris; Marine Pollution; Vulnerability; Litter

In this paper a novel methodology to assess the risk of marine litter (ML) pollution in the Mediterranean Sea is implemented. In this approach, the hazard component is estimated using a state-of-the-art 3D modeling system, which allows the simulation of floating and sinking ML particles; the exposure component is defined from biodiversity estimates; and the vulnerability is related to ML ingestion rates of each species. The results show that the hot-spots for the ML risk concentrate in the coastal regions, and are mainly conditioned by the biodiversity in the region. A dedicated analysis on the marine protected areas shows that the risk therein is controlled by the proximity to ML sources and that their present-day protection levels are not effective in the case of ML pollution. Only a reduction of ML at the sources could reduce the impact of ML pollution in protected areas.