Distribution and sources of macrolitter on the seafloor in Belgian fisheries areas
Marine litter is recognized as a global environmental concern. Seafloor litter can provide important information to help assess the status of the marine ecosystem and is relatively easy to collect on a regular basis. The Belgian fisheries area covers different parts of the OSPAR Greater North Sea re...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1124580/full |
| _version_ | 1797896220675407872 |
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| author | David Vanavermaete Katrien Verlé Lisa I. Devriese Karien De Cauwer Coline De Schrijver Els Torreele Loes Vandecasteele Milica Velimirovic Kristof Tirez Kris Hostens Bavo De Witte |
| author_facet | David Vanavermaete Katrien Verlé Lisa I. Devriese Karien De Cauwer Coline De Schrijver Els Torreele Loes Vandecasteele Milica Velimirovic Kristof Tirez Kris Hostens Bavo De Witte |
| author_sort | David Vanavermaete |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Marine litter is recognized as a global environmental concern. Seafloor litter can provide important information to help assess the status of the marine ecosystem and is relatively easy to collect on a regular basis. The Belgian fisheries area covers different parts of the OSPAR Greater North Sea region and the Celtic Seas. In these regions, seafloor litter data were gathered by quantifying the litter items caught in the trawl net during two different fisheries surveys to investigate litter distribution on both regional and local scales. In the international beam trawl survey (BTS), covering essentially the OSPAR Greater North Sea and Celtic Seas, an average of 2.2 ± 0.05 items.ha-1 were caught with a median of 1.4 items.ha-1. In the environmental monitoring survey (EMS) only the Belgian part of the North Sea was covered and a smaller cod-end mesh size was used, resulting in 12.7 ± 1.7 litter items.ha-1 in the coastal zone (< 12 nm) and 2.8 ± 0.2 items.ha-1 in the more offshore zone (> 12 nm). In both surveys plastic items were predominant, representing up to 88% of the collected litter in the Belgian part of the North Sea. The impact of human activities at sea such as fisheries, sand extraction, wind farms and dredge disposal was investigated. A significant correlation was found between fishing activities and the amount of litter registered in the Belgian part of the North Sea, but not for the OSPAR Greater North Sea and Celtic Seas. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T07:38:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bf5adcdfa7c64041839647a341957299 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-7745 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T07:38:15Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Marine Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-bf5adcdfa7c64041839647a3419572992023-02-23T12:18:21ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Marine Science2296-77452023-02-011010.3389/fmars.2023.11245801124580Distribution and sources of macrolitter on the seafloor in Belgian fisheries areasDavid Vanavermaete0Katrien Verlé1Lisa I. Devriese2Karien De Cauwer3Coline De Schrijver4Els Torreele5Loes Vandecasteele6Milica Velimirovic7Kristof Tirez8Kris Hostens9Bavo De Witte10Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO-Marine), Animal Sciences Unit - Aquatic Environment and Quality, Ostend, BelgiumFlanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO-Marine), Animal Sciences Unit - Aquatic Environment and Quality, Ostend, BelgiumFlanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Ostend, BelgiumRoyal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), Operational Directorate Nature, Brussels, BelgiumRoyal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), Operational Directorate Nature, Brussels, BelgiumFlanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO-Marine), Animal Sciences Unit - Aquatic Environment and Quality, Ostend, BelgiumFlanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO-Marine), Animal Sciences Unit - Aquatic Environment and Quality, Ostend, BelgiumFlemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Sustainable Chemistry, Mol, BelgiumFlemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Sustainable Chemistry, Mol, BelgiumFlanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO-Marine), Animal Sciences Unit - Aquatic Environment and Quality, Ostend, BelgiumFlanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO-Marine), Animal Sciences Unit - Aquatic Environment and Quality, Ostend, BelgiumMarine litter is recognized as a global environmental concern. Seafloor litter can provide important information to help assess the status of the marine ecosystem and is relatively easy to collect on a regular basis. The Belgian fisheries area covers different parts of the OSPAR Greater North Sea region and the Celtic Seas. In these regions, seafloor litter data were gathered by quantifying the litter items caught in the trawl net during two different fisheries surveys to investigate litter distribution on both regional and local scales. In the international beam trawl survey (BTS), covering essentially the OSPAR Greater North Sea and Celtic Seas, an average of 2.2 ± 0.05 items.ha-1 were caught with a median of 1.4 items.ha-1. In the environmental monitoring survey (EMS) only the Belgian part of the North Sea was covered and a smaller cod-end mesh size was used, resulting in 12.7 ± 1.7 litter items.ha-1 in the coastal zone (< 12 nm) and 2.8 ± 0.2 items.ha-1 in the more offshore zone (> 12 nm). In both surveys plastic items were predominant, representing up to 88% of the collected litter in the Belgian part of the North Sea. The impact of human activities at sea such as fisheries, sand extraction, wind farms and dredge disposal was investigated. A significant correlation was found between fishing activities and the amount of litter registered in the Belgian part of the North Sea, but not for the OSPAR Greater North Sea and Celtic Seas.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1124580/fullbottom trawl surveydredge disposalfishing activitieslitter contaminationNorth Seaoffshore wind farms (OWFs) |
| spellingShingle | David Vanavermaete Katrien Verlé Lisa I. Devriese Karien De Cauwer Coline De Schrijver Els Torreele Loes Vandecasteele Milica Velimirovic Kristof Tirez Kris Hostens Bavo De Witte Distribution and sources of macrolitter on the seafloor in Belgian fisheries areas Frontiers in Marine Science bottom trawl survey dredge disposal fishing activities litter contamination North Sea offshore wind farms (OWFs) |
| title | Distribution and sources of macrolitter on the seafloor in Belgian fisheries areas |
| title_full | Distribution and sources of macrolitter on the seafloor in Belgian fisheries areas |
| title_fullStr | Distribution and sources of macrolitter on the seafloor in Belgian fisheries areas |
| title_full_unstemmed | Distribution and sources of macrolitter on the seafloor in Belgian fisheries areas |
| title_short | Distribution and sources of macrolitter on the seafloor in Belgian fisheries areas |
| title_sort | distribution and sources of macrolitter on the seafloor in belgian fisheries areas |
| topic | bottom trawl survey dredge disposal fishing activities litter contamination North Sea offshore wind farms (OWFs) |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1124580/full |
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