1. Marine litter in the Balearic Islands: ongoing projects
Carme Alomar, Montserrat Compa, Salud Deudero
INSTITUTO ESPAÑOL DE OCEANOGRAFÍA
CENTRO OCEANOGRÁFICO DE BALEARES
MEDCIS Workshop-Marine Litter: Task 1.3: Adjusting GES and targets of marine litter
23rd February 2018, Athens

2. DESCRIPTOR 10: Marine Litter
"Properties and quantities of marine litter do not cause harm to the coastal and marine environment"
Amount and composition of litter in the water column - including floating and suspended litter - and accumulation on the sea floor. The attribute measures litter dynamics and potential interactions with marine life. Accumulation areas are currently under study (10.1.2)
Amount and composition of litter ingested by marine animals. The attribute measures time-trends and spatial variation in inputs of litter and its impact on marine life (10.1.3)
Amount, distribution and composition of microparticles (mainly microplastics). The attribute measures quantities, types, degradation processes and potential sources of contaminants (10.2.1)

3. Floating and suspended litter, spatio-temporal trends
Ports with ABAQUA vessels
Mallorca: 15 vessels
Menorca: 8 vessels
Eivissa i Formentera: 10 vessels +
ABAQUA program-In collaboration with Govern de Les Illes Balears
SOURCE: ABAQUA-CAIB
(Compa et al. In progress)

4. Floating and suspended litter, spatio-temporal trends
Sampling effort:
Time series:
Coastal monitoring (0-500m) from the shoreline
Daily monitoring during summer months (May-September)
20 different ports with survey boats each year
A total of 26,208 surveys in 11 years
Plastic 54.3%
Wood 19.2%
Algae 10%
Other 9.98%
Organic material 6.14%
Oil 0.38%
Month
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
May -
1020
June
342
630
660
690
322
989
July
598
667
525
621
713
506
512
1019
August
712
990
1018
September
638
616
184
959
981
October
Total
1857
2626
2565
2668
2093
2829
1909
1931
2461
5027
Number of survey days completed during summer months from 2005 to 2015 in the Balearic Islands

5. Floating and suspended litter, spatio-temporal trends
Modelling distribution of coastal floating sea surface marine litter
2011 point of inflection: decrease of plastic collected: 20% less than in Also in 2011 ABAQUA sampling changes from a guided to a non guided sampling. From 2012 onwards: even not having a guided sampling collected quantities are increasing to values of 2005 (when we do have a guided sampling).
Average Yearly Marine Plastic litter (kg-1 survey-1) Balearic Islands (mean ± standard deviation)-ABAQUA Program
(Compa et al. In progress)
ABAQUA.es

6. Seafloor litter, spatio-temporal trends
MEDITS PROJECT Scientific bottom trawl surveys with experimental fishing gears:
Seafloor habitats around the Balearic Islands; up to 21 nm from the cost
Time series: ongoing
Depth range: m
Number of stations: aprox trawls/year
Spatial variation of macroplastics:
Ordinary kriging to study the spatial distribution of the plastic fraction around the Balearic Islands
Maximum values of kg of macroplastics/km2
(Alomar et al. In progress)

7. Seafloor litter, spatio-temporal trends
Results for quantification of Seafloor litter
Percentage of bottom trawl hauls with marine and plastic litter
Percentage breakdown of marine litter categories in bottom trawl hauls %
Plastic (2009,2015 ) > 50% ( ) in hauls and most common in 2001, 2005, 2007, 2012
Glass and plastic : in hauls throughout all years
(Alomar et al. In progress)

8. Seafloor litter, spatio-temporal trends
Spatial Distribution: Depth strata-significant differences amongst localities and strata (PERMANOVA p < 0.001)
North
East
West
South
B: 50 – 100 m
C: 100 – 200 m
D: 200 – 500 m
E: 500 – 800 m
Higher abundances of plastics in upper bathymetric strata ( m)
(Alomar et al. In progress)

9. Amount and composition of litter ingested by marine animals: time-trends and spatial variation and its impact on marine life
 Methodologies for quantifying Ingestion of microplastics in biota
1. Biological parameters
3. GI contents and air contamination controls
2. Gastrointestinal (GI) tract dissection
4. GI contents visual sorting under stereomicroscope
5. MPs quantification (occurrence, frequency, size, shape, colour)
6. MPs validation with FTIR techniques

10. Marine litter dynamics and potential interaction with marine life
 MPs ingestion in species with different trophic guilds-local scale
(Compa et al. 2016; CIESM, Nadal et al., 2016; EnvPol, Alomar and Deudero, 2017; EnvPol, Alomar et al., 2017; EnvRes)
A. Lusher, 2015

11. Marine litter dynamics and potential interaction with marine life
 Comparing results at a regional scale-Spanish Coast example
Highly touristic area (Ibiza): small pelagic fish with highest percentage of MP ingestion (Espardell 79.5%; Cala Tarida 76.1%)
Highly urbanized area and with an important commercial port (Barcelona): lowest percentage of MP ingestion (13%)
Boops boops
case study
(Compa et al., 2016; 41st CIESM Congress)
Nadal et al., 2016

12. Marine litter dynamics and potential interaction with marine life
Assessment microplastic ingestion in species at a Global scale: Risk assessment of plastic pollution on the marine diversity in the Mediterranean Sea:
Modelling approach integrating species distribution, plastic pollution and species life history traits
(body size, habitat of species, taxonomic class)
84 species from 6 taxonomic classes considered (fish, sharks and rays, mammals, reptiles, malacostraca,
cephalopods)
Identifying hotspots for species plastic ingestion risk
Ovelap between plastic concentration in sea surface (lebreton model) and distribution of species (from aquamaps).
Plastic concentration in sea surface: prediction from the result of best predictive model of plastic in the mediterranean (Van sebille, Maximenko and Lebreton). Results: Lebreton best model for Med.
Species distribution maps obtained from Aquamaps.
GAM model for global risk assessments for predictive risk of plastic ingestion; green (0) low risk to red (1) high risk .
(Compa et al. In progress)

13. Marine litter dynamics and potential interaction with marine life
Assessing physiological response of fish species towards ingestion of microplastics
Antioxidant enzymes
Superoxide Dismutases (SOD)
Catalase (CAT)
Detoxification enzyme
Glutathione S-transferase (GST)
Malondialdehyde (MDA) determination
Biomarker
MPs ingested
no MPs ingested
SOD
2.34 ± 0.49
1.34 ± 0.34
CAT
30.87 ± 5.29
25.78 ± 3.57
GST
9.47 ± 1.14
6.80 ± 0.72
MDA
± 1.14
12.62 ± 0.72
For all biomarkers: higher values in fish with ingested MPs but only significant differences for GST ( p < 0.05).
No significant differences between biomarkers and fish size
No significant differences between biomarkers and site except for MDA (Kruskal-Wallis test )
A total of 417 striped red mullet, Mullus surmuletus, were analyzed to study microplastic ingestion and livers of
fish were assessed to study effects of microplastics. Nearly one third (27.30%) of the individuals were quantified
to ingest microplastics although there was no evidence of oxidative stress or cellular damage in the liver of fish
which had ingested microplastics. A small increase in the activity of glutathione S-transferase (GST) of M.
surmuletus was detected which could be suggesting an induction of the detoxification systems but these findings
should be tested in laboratory conditions under a controlled diet and known concentration of microplastics.
GST activity in the liver of M. surmuletus. Bars represent mean ± SEM (n=20group). * p<0.05 when compared with the control group (t-student analysis). MPs: microplastics; GST: glutathione-S-transferase.
(Alomar et al., 2017; EnvRes)

14. Amount, distribution and composition of microparticles
Microplastics in Sea Surface water: MPs concentration (MPs/m3) collected at seven locations on the during July 2017
High range in MPs concentration across Mallorca: Port Andratx 0.02 ± to Cala d’Or 0.38 ±0.14 MPs/m3 (mean ±SD) +

15. Amount, distribution and composition of microparticles
Quantifying icroplastics in coastal areas (8 – 10 m depth)
Filament type MPs
Granular type MPs
Sediment cores sampled with scuba divers in an urbanized and a Marine Protected Area (MPA)
Higher concentrations of MPs in MPA: up to 0.90 ± 0.10 MPs/g of dry coastal sediment
Example of transferred contamination
Indirect estimation of sources (filaments=sewage inputs; granular= fragmentation)
Urbanized Area
Marine Protected Area
(Alomar et al. 2016)

16. Marine litter in the Balearic Islands: ongoing projects
Carme Alomar, Montserrat Compa, Salud Deudero
INSTITUTO ESPAÑOL DE OCEANOGRAFÍA
CENTRO OCEANOGRÁFICO DE BALEARES
MEDCIS Workshop-Marine Litter: Task 1.3: Adjusting GES and targets of marine litter
23rd February 2018, Athens