Harm caused by Marine Litter

Marine litter is a global concern with a range of problems associated to it, as recognised by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Marine litter can impact organisms at different levels of biological organization and habitats in a number of ways namely: through entanglement in, or ingestion of, litter items by individuals, resulting in death and/or severe suffering; through chemical and microbial transfer; as a vector for transport of biota and by altering or modifying assemblages of species. Marine litter is a threat not only to marine species and ecosystems but also carries a risk to human health and has significant implications to human welfare, impacting negatively vital economic sectors such as tourism, fisheries, aquaculture or energy supply and bringing economic losses to individuals, enterprises and communities. This technical report aims to provide clear insight about the major negative impacts from marine litter by describing the mechanisms of harm. Further it provides reflexions about the evidence for harm from marine litter to biota comprising the underlying aspect of animal welfare while also considering the socioeconomic effects, including the influence of marine litter on ecosystem services. General conclusions highlight that understanding the risks and uncertainties with regard to the harm caused by marine litter is closely associated with the precautionary principle. The collected evidence in this report can be regarded as a supporting step to define harm and to provide an evidence base for the various actions needed to be implemented by decision-makers. This improved knowledge about the scale of the harmful effects of marine litter will further support EU Member States (MSs) and Regional Seas Conventions (RSCs) to implement their programme of measures, regional action plans and assessments.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

Microplastics evidence in yolk and liver of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta), a pilot study

The potential toxicity of microplastics is a growing concern for the scientific community. The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) is particularly inclined to accidently ingest plastic and microplastic due to its long-life cycle features. The possible transfer of microplastics from the female to the eggs should be investigated.The present study investigated the presence of microplastics in yolk and liver samples evaluating the number of melanomacrophages in the hepatic tissue as a possible biomarker of microplastics impact on the embryonic health status. The biometric parameters and liver histological analysis of 27 and 48 embryos (from two different nests respectively) at the 30 stage of development were analyzed. Raman Microspectroscopy was performed to identify the microplastics after alkaline digestion (10% KOH) of yolk and portion of liver from 5 embryos at the 30 developmental stage per nest. Microplastics were found in yolk and liver of loggerhead sea turtles at late embryonic stage for the first time. All microplastics were smaller than 5 mu m and were made of polymers and colors suggesting their diverse origins. A total number of 21 microplastics, with dimensions lower than 5 mu m, were found between the two nests (11 and 10 microplastics respectively). Only two shape categories were identified: spheres and fragments. The most frequent polymers observed were polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (31.5%, 21.1% and 15.8% respectively). Despite the eggs showing a higher number of microplastics in yolk samples than liver (15 and 6 microplastics in yolk and liver respectively), a positive correlation was observed only between the number of melanomacrophages (r = 0.863 p < 0.001) and microplastics in the liver. This result may suggest that microplastics could exert some effects on the hepatic tissues. Future studies should investigate this aspect and the possible relation between microplastics and other stress biomarkers

Potential Impact of Microplastics and Additives on the Health Status of Loggerhead Turtles (Caretta caretta) Stranded Along the Central Adriatic Coast

AbstractLoggerhead sea turtle (C. caretta) is the official European bioindicator of marine litter in the Mediterranean Sea. In 2019, 8 sea turtles, out of 28 specimens loggerhead on the Adriatic coast of Molise, were subjected to necropsy. The intestinal contents were collected and the microplastics until 0.45 μm were extracted. Qualitative and quantitative assessments were performed by stereomicroscope observation and spectroscopic analyses (attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ATR-FTIR and Raman microspectroscopy, RMS). Moreover, the analytical quantification of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polycarbonate (PC), para phthalic acid (PTA) and bisphenol A (BPA) in fat and liver tissues was performed by LC-MS/MS. Microparticles ranging from 0.45 μm to 1 mm were found in all turtles, for a total of 623, while plastic litter greater than 1 mm were found only in 4 specimens (ranging from 0.03 to 0.11 g). Nineteen different polymers and 10 pigments, including polyester (100% of animals), high-density polyethylene (50%) and polypropylene (50%) were identified. BPA, PTA and PET were detected in fat and liver tissues of all animals, while PC was found only in 50%. A major prevalence was registered in the abdominal fat tissue, although only PC compounds were significantly higher in abdominal tissue (p < 0.05), except for free PTA with liver tissue being the most contaminated (p < 0.05). Microplastics and additives surely impact the health status of turtles that showed gastrointestinal impairment and an important level of contamination in tissues. Graphical abstrac

Threshold Values for Marine Litter: General discussion paper on defining threshold values for marine litter

The revised Commission Decision (EU) 2017/848 requires EU Member States to establish threshold values (TVs) for criteria of Descriptor 10 on marine litter. TVs which are now mandatory through the new provisions, are intended to contribute to MS determination of a set of characteristics for GES and enable their assessment of the extent to which GES is being achieved. The MSFD Technical Group on Marine Litter (TG-ML) has been mandated, through the MSFD 2016-2019 work program of the Common Implementation Strategy, to develop approaches for setting of TVs and to work towards agreed TVs. This documents sets out the scope of setting TVs for marine litter criteria, explores on general concepts of threshold setting and how those concepts can be translated to address the various hazardous effects of marine litter and evaluates potential options for setting TVs and which of them might be suitable to be applied to marine litter. While thresholds for ML criteria may follow the same basic concepts, they may each require specific approaches and need to be discussed separately. Therefore basic thoughts and questions are raised in order to be further discussed when working on the actual definition of TVs for litter in the different marine compartments and for marine litter impacts. Finally concluding recommendations for marine litter threshold setting are proposed.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

Are we even close? Five years marine litter ingestion monitoring in loggerhead turtles along Italian coast reveals how far we are from the Good Environmental Status

The loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta has been chosen as bioindicator to monitor the amount of litter ingested by marine animals within the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Barcelona Regional Sea Convention. European Member States and Contracting Parties are committed to achieve the Good Environmental Status (GES), which is reached when the quantity of ingested litter does not adversely affect the health of the species concerned. Although the monitoring strategy has been outlined for more than a decade, to date no threshold values have been adopted to verify GES achievement. After five years of extensive monitoring along the Italian coasts, this study evaluates the suitability of five different GES scenarios and proposes a new threshold value (i.e., "there should be less than 33% of sea turtles having more than 0.05 g of ingested plastic in the GI") for its implementation in the European seas and the Mediterranean basin

Guidance on Monitoring of Marine Litter in European Seas

This publication is a Reference Report by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.The MSFD Technical Subgroup on Marine Litter was tasked to deliver guidance so that European Member States could initiate programmes for monitoring of Descriptor 10 of the MSFD. The present document provides the recommendations and information needed to commence the monitoring required for marine litter, including methodological protocols and categories of items to be used for the assessment of litter on the Beach, Water Column, Seafloor and Biota, including a special section on Microparticles

Guidance on the monitoring of marine litter in European seas

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) Technical Group on Marine Litter developed the ‘Guidance on monitoring of marine litter in European seas’ in 2013 to enable EU Member States to launch monitoring programmes for MSFD Descriptor 10: ‘no harm caused by marine litter’. The maturity of methodological protocols for marine litter monitoring has increased over the last 10 years, based on research advances and Member States’ efforts. This document updates the previous guidance to facilitate the harmonisation of the monitoring framework for the MSFD, including protocols, recommendations, and information required to increase the comparability of data and assessments among Member States. The document comprises chapters dedicated to the protocols for monitoring marine litter across different marine environmental compartments (i.e. the coastline/beach, the surface layer of the water column, the seafloor/seabed) and types of litter (i.e. macro litter, mesolitter, microlitter, ingested litter and microlitter by biota, and entanglement with litter).JRC.D.2 - Ocean and Wate

Cooling water intake of the electric power plan in the litoral area of Lazio: adverse impact on early stage of teleostei

La crescente richiesta di energia elettrica per il funzionamento delle apparecchiature elettroniche di uso quotidiano, sia in ambito civile che industriale, ha provocato negli ultimi decenni il proliferare di centrali termoelettriche, con conseguente aumento della potenza di produzione e delle dimensioni delle singole unità produttive. La necessità di raffreddare i condensatori e, quindi, l'esigenza di disporre di ingenti quantitativi d’acqua atti allo scopo, ha reso sempre più pressante il problema di reperire siti idonei per l’istallazione delle centrali, motivo per cui la maggior parte di esse sono state collocate presso la costa, con evidenti vantaggi di presa di acqua e smaltimento del calore residuo direttamente a mare. Spesso non si è tenuto in debito conto che, l’utilizzo di notevoli masse di acqua, potesse provocare problemi ambientali, non solo come impatto sulle biocenosi nel bacino ricevente il refluo termico, ma anche con una serie di effetti nocivi sugli organismi associati al volume d’acqua prelevata, quasi sempre con conseguenze mortali. Studi sugli impatti degli scarichi di reflui caldi sulle biocenosi, hanno dimostrato che gli organismi viventi sottoposti all’effetto del “pennacchio caldo” possono subire shock termici dovuti a repentini cambiamenti di temperatura in un tempo così breve da non consentirne l’acclimatazione. Questi impatti, sono in grado di provocare cambiamenti sulle risorse trofiche dei pesci, anticipazione nel raggiungimento della maturità sessuale, aggregazione massiva di individui nelle aree di scarico, riduzione della ricchezza specifica della comunità. Per quanto riguarda i volumi di acqua prelevati dall’ambiente per i processi di raffreddamento delle centrali termoelettriche, l’impossibilità di resistere alla forza con cui l’acqua viene pompata nell’impianto, fa sì che un certo numero di organismi (pesci, molluschi e organismi planctonici) associati alla massa in ingresso, vengano trascinati verso l’interno della struttura. Gli organismi di taglia maggiore si arrestano contro le grate metalliche dei filtri, dove subiscono effetti dannosi dipendenti dall’esaurimento fisico, dal soffocamento e dall’impatto meccanico contro le barriere, tale fenomeno viene definito “impingement”. Gli organismi di piccole dimensioni (fra cui larve e uova di pesci), vengono trascinati all’interno delle strutture di raffreddamento, fenomeno di “entrainment”, dove subiscono abrasioni meccaniche, intossicazione per la presenza di biocidi e stress legati all’aumento di temperatura ed a cambiamenti di pressione. L’impatto delle centrali elettriche sulle comunità ittiche ha riscosso particolare attenzione nel Nord America ed in Canada, dove l’industria idroelettrica ha una lunga tradizione e l’entità delle ricadute economiche per il depauperamento di specie commerciali sono notevoli. In Italia la presa e restituzione di acqua per usi industriali è regolamentata dal Decreto Legislativo n.152 del 3 Aprile 2006 (Gazzetta Ufficiale n.88) anche se, nel detto decreto, non si fa cenno agli organismi viventi associati alla massa d’acqua utilizzata. Inoltre nonostante la maggior parte delle centrali Italiane siano collocate lungo la costa, non risultano studi sperimentali volti all’individuazione di un impatto sulle biocenosi, conseguente la presa di acqua marina. E’ in tale ambito che è nata l’idea progettuale, indirizzata alla verifica di eventuali impatti sulla fauna ittica relativi alla presa e restituzione di acqua marina per il raffreddamento dei condensatori della centrale termoelettrica A. Volta nel Tirreno centrale. L’idea, seppur innovativa e mai sperimentata in Italia, non teneva in considerazione il sopraggiungere della crisi economica che ha, di fatto, dal 2008 ad oggi provocato la riduzione del quantitativo annuale di produzione elettrica della centrale, in conseguenza della chiusura in tutto il territorio nazionale di numerosi esercizi commerciali e fabbriche, con successiva minor richiesta energetica. L’altalenante funzionamento della centrale e quindi il ridotto prelievo di acqua marina, ha aumentato enormemente i livelli di variabilità del sistema, diminuendo al contempo la disponibilità programmatica per i campionamenti e la presenza costante di un refluo termico a mare consistente. Si è quindi deciso di concentrare le attività di ricerca nella valutazione del fenomeno dell’entrainment sugli stadi precoci dei teleostei, ricerca che presenta il maggior indice di innovazione, non essendo mai stata sperimentata in nessuna centrale Italiana e di cui non ci risulta esistano lavori analoghi in tutto il Mediterraneo. L’analisi ha riguardato la messa a punto di un sistema di campionamento particolare, dovendo operare all’interno delle strutture artificiali dell’impianto, con la scelta degli attrezzi da pesca più idonei, l’individuazione dell’area di prelievo, il lume della maglia più adatto ed i tempi di cala più redditizi, cioè in grado di armonizzare abbondanza di catture e rigurgito dovuto ad intasamento delle maglie. I campionamenti con reti da plancton per la componente ittioplanctonica e le uova sono state eseguite nei canali interni alla centrale nell’area antecedente i filtri. Le attività a mare invece, hanno riguardato il campionamento con sciabica da terra nell’area interessata dal refluo termico ed in due aree controllo a nord e sud dello stesso, per la cattura dei giovanili in fase d’insediamento. Le attività di campionamento interne alla centrale sono state condotte dal 2009 al 2011, con cadenza stagionale nei primi due anni. Durante le 384 ore di lavoro sono stati filtrati un totale di 235.574,5 m3 di acqua marina, suddiviso in 236 cale, la maggior parte delle quali nel 2009. Alcune cale sono state effettuate preliminarmente nel 2008, al fine di definire il disegno di campionamento per gli anni successivi ed individuare l’area di prelievo, la tipologia di rete adatta e standardizzare i tempi di cala più idonei. Le attività di smistamento e determinazione tassonomica hanno portato complessivamente alla raccolta di 668 individui suddivisi in 24 taxa e 2.459 uova di teleostei. Lo studio ha dimostrato, per il sistema di raffreddamento della centrale A. Volta, l’esistenza di un impatto sugli stadi precoci dei teleostei, in conseguenza del fenomeno di entrainment, con un prelievo stimato per l’anno 2009 di circa 12 x 106 larve e 24,5 x 106 uova, le sardine e le alici sono risultate le specie maggiormente impattate dalla centrale. Il peso stimato, circa 300 Kg, delle larve di sardina prelevate dalla centrale nel corso del 2009, è stato relazionato con i dati di cattura del bianchetto in Liguria. Il dato corrisponde a 50 giorni barca per il compartimento di Genova e 31 giorni barca per il compartimento di Savona, con una perdita economica che va dai 9.000,00 euro (vendita all’ingrosso) ai 15.000,00 euro (vendita al dettaglio). L’analisi statistica mediante PERMANOVA ha inoltre constatato differenze significative fra le comunità ittioplanctoniche nelle varie stagioni per i valori di abbondanza, mentre non sono risultati significativamente differenti i dati stagionali per numero di uova. L’estate si è confermata come il periodo con i valori di diversità, ricchezza specifica ed equitabilità più elevati, mentre l’inverno ha registrato il maggior numero di esemplari campionati. La relazione fra il numero di esemplari catturati e le fasi lunari ha mostrato una maggiore abbondanza di larve durante il I quarto lunare, fase in cui la differenza di marea manifesta un’escursione minore rispetto alla fase di luna piena o luna nuova. L’identificazione delle principali specie registrate nei diversi periodi, è stata confermata da dati di letteratura in aree limitrofe del Mediterraneo. Le catture con sciabica da terra non hanno mostrato differenze significative nelle comunità ittiche soggette al refluo caldo rispetto alle aree di controllo.Due to the large amount of natural water used in the cooling intake of electric power plants, resulting impact on marine organisms have been studied in different part of the world. Cooling water intake usually affect marine organisms in three different way: entrainment (where small aquatic organisms are carried by the cooling water into the power plant), impingement (where the cooling water intake traps larger organisms against the intake screens) and thermal outfall (hot water discharged on living organisms in the receiving water body). In this study (the first one carried out in Italy), the impact of the cooling water intake of the electric power plant of Montalto di Castro (VT) (Central Tyrrhenian Sea) on fish was determined by evaluating the effect of entrainment on eggs and larvae and that of thermal outfall on juveniles. A specific sampling design has been create to operate inside the artificial intake, with new methodology, different plankton nets and right time of haul. Sampling campaign have been conduct at sea, using a handed trawling net, to the catch of juveniles fish during settlement stage, in the thermal outfall area and in two control areas. Overall 668 fish larvae of 24 taxa and 2500 fish eggs were collected after filtering 235.574 m3 of marine water inside the intake. Impact of entrainment on early stage of fish was estimated to be of 12 x 106 larvae and 24,5 x 106 eggs per year. Sardina pilchardus was the most impacted species, with an estimated economic damage to the traditional fisheries, ranging between 9.000 and 15.000 euro per year. The highest values of diversity index, richness and evenness were recorded in summer, whereas the largest number of larvae were caught during winter.Dottorato di ricerca in Ecologia e gestione delle risorse biologich

Macro-litter ingestion in deep-water habitats. Is an underestimation occurring?

Marine litter affects marine organisms, posing threats to biodiversity conservation and to ecosystem structure and functioning. Providing a suitable assessment of marine litter effects on marine life through bioindicator species is crucial to drive an effective waste management policy. However, to date no standardized tool has been developed to describe and monitor the impact of marine macro-litter on marine life within deep-water habitats. Modifying the protocol proposed to monitor macro-litter ingestion by the loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta, we perform a preliminary investigation on the suitability of different elasmobranch species for monitoring macro-litter ingestion in deep-sea. A total of 122 specimens representing 7 elasmobranch species were collected and examined. External visual inspections documented no clear evidences of disease due to marine litter entanglement. A total of 7 ingested litter items were found in the stomach or in the esophagus of 6 specimens of 4 different species (frequency of occurrence = 4.9%), with a maximum number of 2 items per specimen. No litter items were found in the intestinal contents, as well as no evidence of gastrointestinal blockages due to litter items were detected. The low number of collected litter items suggests that the number of samples required is too large for a feasible monitoring program. Moreover, we observed that the anatomy of the intestinal spiral valve may represent an obstacle to the transit of macro-litter items, which could be spontaneously regurgitated as it happens in the selective elimination of undigested remains, such as bones and scales. Therefore, macro-litter retention time in the gastrointestinal tract of elasmobranchs could be brief and shorter than retention time of food. This may lead to an underestimation of macro-litter ingestion frequency by deep-water elasmobranchs. This study reports the first evidence of plastic ingestion by the kitefin shark Dalatias licha