State of Marine Litter Pollution in the Benthic Habitat of Southeastern Black Sea Coasts

Creative Commons License

Erüz C., Terzi Y., Öztürk R. Ç., Telli Karakoç F., Özşeker K., Şahin A., ...Daha Fazla

1. INTERNATIONAL JOINT CONFERENCE MARBLUE 2022 (BLUE GROWHT: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITES FOR THE BLACK SEA), Constanta, Romanya, 26 - 28 Ekim 2022, cilt.1, ss.147

  • Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Özet Bildiri
  • Cilt numarası: 1
  • Basıldığı Şehir: Constanta
  • Basıldığı Ülke: Romanya
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.147
  • Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Marine litter is a major concern worldwide and posses an environmental, health, economic, and aesthetic threats. Knowledge on the status of distribution and abundance of marine litter on the sea bottom is necessary for the implementation of both national and international policy frameworks, and public awareness.
The Black Sea is a semi-closed basin, connected to the Mediterranean through the narrow Turkish straits system (Istanbul Strait, Sea of Marmara, and Dardenelles) with a limited water exchange.
Wide range of river systems carry diverse pollutants to the sea of which some settle down and accumulates intensively by destructing bottom habitats and some others float coasts of riparian countries by the existing wind and current systems. In this presentation litters on the bottom habitat were analysed based on field samplings with R/V Denar I of KTU. 
During the surveys, 671 litter items weighing 83.93 kg were collected from the sampling stations. The average density by number and weight were calculated as 460.70 ± 99.71 n/km2 and 80.68 ± 48.06 kg/km2. The litter density was found significantly higher at 10–20 m (646.09 ± 165.63 n/km2) compared to 20–30 m (165.53 ± 81.02 n/km2) and >30 m (413.87 ± 146.59 n/km2) depth ranges. Plastics (69.03%) are the most abundant litters by number, followed by textile (20.94%) and metal (5.68%). The litter composition varies between the trawl and no-trawl zones. Results indicate that more detailed research is needed to understand the interaction of various factors affecting transportation and accumulation of marine litter in the Black Sea.