Macrolitter and microplastics along the East Pacific coasts - A homemade problem needing local solutions

Daniela Honorato-Zimmer; Gabriela Escobar-Sánchez; Katie Deakin; Diamela De Veer; Tamara Galloway; Valeska Guevara-Torrejón; Jessica Howard; Jen Jones; Ceri Lewis; Francisca Ribeiro; Georgie Savage; Martin Thiel

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2024.116440

Macrolitter and microplastics along the East Pacific coasts - A homemade problem needing local solutions

Mar Pollut Bull. 2024 May 7:203:116440. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2024.116440. Online ahead of print.

Affiliations

¹ Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile.
² Coastal and Marine Management Group, Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), Seestraße 15, 18119 Rostock, Germany; Marine Research Institute, Klaipeda University, Universiteto Ave. 17, LT-92294, Klaipeda, Lithuania.
³ Department of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QD, UK.
⁴ Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile; Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, MD, USA.
⁵ Galapagos Conservation Trust, 7-14 Great Dover Street, London SE1 4YR, UK.
⁶ Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile; Millennium Nucleus Ecology and Sustainable Management of Oceanic Island (ESMOI), Coquimbo, Chile; MarineGEO, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, MD, USA. Electronic address: thielm@si.edu.

PMID: 38718548
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2024.116440

Abstract

The East Pacific (EP) region, especially the central and southern EP, has been fairly less studied than other world's regions with respect to marine litter pollution. This comprehensive literature review (257 peer-reviewed publications) showed that both macrolitter (mostly plastics) and microplastics tend to accumulate on EP shorelines. Moreover, they were also reported in all the other compartments investigated: sea surface, water column, seafloor and 'others'. Mostly local, land-based sources (e.g., tourism, poor waste management) were identified across the region, especially at continental sites from low and mid latitudes. Some sea-based sources (e.g., fisheries, long-distance drifting) were also identified at high latitudes and on oceanic islands, likely enhanced by the oceanographic dynamics of the EP that affect transport of floating litter. Our results suggest that effective solutions to the problem require local and preventive strategies to significantly reduce the levels of litter along the EP coasts.

Keywords: Beaches; Eastern boundary currents; Litter sources; Plastic transport; Prevention; Sea surface.

Publication types

Review