Plastic litter in sediments from the Croatian marine protected area of the natural park of Telaščica bay (Adriatic Sea)

Abstract

This paper reports baseline levels of litter (macro, meso and microplastics) in sediments collected from different areas of the Croatian MPA of the Natural Park of Telaščica bay (Adriatic Sea, GSA n. 17). The distribution of total abundance according to size, for all analysed locations evidences that microplastics are the dominant fraction concerning item's numbers. In all analysed samples no macroplastics were found, while microplastics are 88.71% and mesoplastics are 11.29% of the total.

Keywords: Macroplastics; Marine Protected Area; Marine Strategy Framework Directive; Marine litter; Mesoplastics; Microplastics.