Extent of plastics in the Mediterranean Sea: a growing problem

The extent of marine litter in the Mediterranean Basin has been revealed by a recent study. Researchers at the Centre Oceanogràfic de les Balears in Spain reviewed past scientific literature and project reports.
They found that the north-western Mediterranean was most polluted with plastic litter (76–96% of all items being plastic).
In all, the researchers found reference to 17 334 individual organisms from 134 different species affected by marine litter. Algae, seagrass, invertebrates, fish, sea turtles and mammals were all affected. An article about the research is published in Marine Pollution Bulletin (News Item Science for Environment Policy, 12 November 2015).
Click here for the news item (369 kB).
Click here for an abstract of the published article.

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