title: Floating debris in the Mediterranean Sea.
abstract: Results from the first large-scale survey of floating natural (NMD) and anthropogenic (AMD) debris (>2 cm) in the central and western part of the Mediterranean Sea are reported. Floating debris was found throughout the entire study area with densities ranging from 0 to 194.6 items/km(2) and mean abundances of 24.9 AMD items/km(2) and 6.9 NMD items/km(2) across all surveyed locations. On the whole, 78% of all sighted objects were of anthropogenic origin, 95.6% of which were petrochemical derivatives (i.e. plastic and styrofoam). Maximum AMD densities (>52 items/km(2)) were found in the Adriatic Sea and in the Algerian basin, while the lowest densities (<6.3 items/km(2)) were observed in the Central Tyrrhenian and in the Sicilian Sea. All the other areas had mean densities ranging from 10.9 to 30.7 items/km(2). According to our calculations, more than 62 million macro-litter items are currently floating on the surface of the whole Mediterranean basin.
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences - National Research Council), Forte S. Teresa - 19032, Pozzuolo di Lerici, SP, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Suaria
authors.affiliation: CNR-ISMAR (Institute of Marine Sciences - National Research Council), Forte S. Teresa - 19032, Pozzuolo di Lerici, SP, Italy. Electronic address: stefano.aliani@sp.ismar.cnr.it.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aliani
mesh_terms: D004777:Environment; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005062:European Union; D005843:Geography; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D010969:Plastics; D011137:Polystyrenes; D012984:Software; D014866:Waste Products / Q000032:analysis*; D014872:Water Movements; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D010969:Plastics; D011137:Polystyrenes; D014866:Waste Products; C024075:styrofoam
keywords: Floating debris; Marine litter; Mediterranean; Plastic pollution