Seasonal dynamics of marine litter along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.
In this study marine litter (ML) surveys were conducted in 8 beaches along the Bulgarian Black Sea coastline within 4 seasons for 2015-2016. The monitoring applied OSPAR guideline, classifying ML in eight categories and 167 types. The results exhibited predominance of artificial polymer materials - 84.3%. ML densities ranged from 0.0587±0.005 to 0.1343±0.008 n/m2, highest on the urban beaches. The seasonal dynamics of most top 10 ML showed highest quantities in summer than the other seasons, as the differences are of high statistical significance (0.001≤P≤0.05). Top 1 ML item for most of the beaches was cigarette butts and filters reaching 1008±10.58 nos. in summer and from 19±3.41 to 89±7.81 nos. during the rest of the seasons (P<0.001). For the pronounced seasonality contributed the recreational activities, increased tourist flow and the wild camping. The investigation will enrich data scarcity for Descriptor 10 "Marine litter".
Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Technical University - Varna, 1 Studentska str., 9010 Varna, Bulgaria. Electronic address: annsim@abv.bg.
Anna
A
Simeonova
Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Technical University - Varna, 1 Studentska str., 9010 Varna, Bulgaria.
Rozalina
R
Chuturkova
Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Technical University - Varna, 1 Studentska str., 9010 Varna, Bulgaria.
Velika
V
Yaneva
D001493:Bathing Beaches; D059038:Black Sea; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005735:Garbage; D006801:Humans; D012621:Seasons
Bulgarian Black Sea coast; Marine Strategy Framework Directive; Marine litter; Monitoring; Pollution; Reference beaches