Temporal and Spatial Variations of Marine Litter Scattered on the Soft Seabed in The Sea of Marmara

Date

2024-01-01

Author

Yüksek, Ahsen
Karakulak, Firdes Saadet
Kıdeyş, Ahmet Erkan

Metadata

Show full item record

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Item Usage Stats

23
views

0
downloads

Cite This

In this study, marine litter from the seafloor in the Sea of Marmara obtained through several trawl surveysbetween 1994 and 2021 is evaluated. When the levels of marine litter on the seabed of the Sea of Marmara areconsidered, there appears a significant increase in the quantity after the year 2000, with this increase particularlyconcentrating in the Gulf of İzmit and Gemlik, where the effect of current systems is prominent. In 2000, thequantity of plastic waste per unit area was approximately 40 items/km2, while in 2016 it exceeded 800 items/km2.Considering the total area for the 20-200 m in the Sea of Marmara, seafloor litter accumulation was calculated as 335tons in 1994 but 5037 tons in 2021. In 2000, plastic waste accounted for 54% of the total, rising to 75% in 2016, 95%in 2019, and 67% in 2021. The L1 group, which represents plastic waste, is mainly contributed by plastic bags. In2000, plastic bags accounted for 23% of the total, increasing to 83% in 2019. However, this value significantlydecreased in 2021 whilst the “Packaging Plastic” subcategory also increased from 4% in 2000 to 48% in 2016 and2021. Our analyses revealed that as the depth increases, the quantity and diversity of marine litter decrease, withplastic litter remaining dominant even in deeper waters.

URI

https://iupress.istanbul.edu.tr/en/book/ecological-changes-in-the-sea-of-marmara/home
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/117132

Collections

Graduate School of Marine Sciences, Book / Book chapter