1. An inshore–offshore sorting system revealed from global classification of ocean litter
- Author
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Morales-Caselles, Carmen, Viejo, Josué, Martí, Elisa, González-Fernández, Daniel, Pragnell-Raasch, Hannah, González-Gordillo, J. Ignacio, Montero, Enrique, Arroyo, Gonzalo M., Hanke, Georg, Salvo, Vanessa S., Basurko, Oihane C., Mallos, Nicholas, Lebreton, Laurent, Echevarría, Fidel, van Emmerik, Tim, Duarte, Carlos M., Gálvez, José A., van Sebille, Erik, Galgani, François, García, Carlos M., Ross, Peter S., Bartual, Ana, Ioakeimidis, Christos, Markalain, Gorka, Isobe, Atsuhiko, Cózar, Andrés, Sub Physical Oceanography, Marine and Atmospheric Research, Sub Physical Oceanography, and Marine and Atmospheric Research
- Subjects
Monitoring ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Geography, Planning and Development ,Fishing ,010501 environmental sciences ,Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law ,Hydrology and Quantitative Water Management ,01 natural sciences ,Sink (geography) ,Taverne ,Marine debris ,Life Science ,Renewable Energy ,14. Life underwater ,reproductive and urinary physiology ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Nature and Landscape Conservation ,Planning and Development ,Global and Planetary Change ,geography ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,WIMEK ,Geography ,Sustainability and the Environment ,Policy and Law ,Ecology ,Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment ,Aquatic ecosystem ,Pelagic zone ,Management ,Urban Studies ,Fishery ,13. Climate action ,Sustainability ,Litter ,Environmental science ,Submarine pipeline ,Food Science ,Hydrologie en Kwantitatief Waterbeheer - Abstract
The surge of research on marine litter is generating important information on its inputs, distribution and impacts, but data on the nature and origin of the litter remain scattered. Here, we harmonize worldwide litter-type inventories across seven major aquatic environments and find that a set of plastic items from take-out food and beverages largely dominates global litter, followed by those resulting from fishing activities. Compositional differences between environments point to a trend for litter to be trapped in nearshore areas so that land-sourced plastic is released to the open ocean, predominantly as small plastic fragments. The world differences in the composition of the nearshore litter sink reflected socioeconomic drivers, with a reduced relative weight of single-use items in high-income countries. Overall, this study helps inform urgently needed actions to manage the production, use and fate of the most polluting human-made items on our planet, but the challenge remains substantial. Data on marine litter are scattered. Harmonizing worldwide aquatic litter inventories, this study finds global litter dominated by plastics from take-out food, followed by fishing, with litter being trapped in nearshore areas and land-sourced plastic reaching the open ocean mostly as small fragments.
- Published
- 2021
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