Preliminary Study on Microplastic Contamination in Black Sea Cetaceans: Gastrointestinal Analysis of Phocoena phocoena relicta and Tursiops truncatus ponticus

Author:

Filimon Adrian1ORCID,Ciucă Andreea-Mădălina12ORCID,Harcotă George-Emanuel1ORCID,Stoica Elena1

Affiliation:

1. National Institute for Marine Research and Development “Grigore Antipa”, 300 Mamaia Blvd., 900581 Constanta, Romania

2. Doctoral School Biotechnical Systems Engineering, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, 060042 Bucharest, Romania

Abstract

Plastic pollution is a global concern that has a significant impact on marine life. Plastic is widely used and has become a pervasive pollutant in marine environments. Plastic contamination has been documented both in marine environments and biota. Plastic contamination in cetacean gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) content has received limited attention, especially in the Black Sea. This study aims to investigate plastic contamination in the GITs of bottlenose dolphins and harbour porpoises, introducing a novel methodology. Given the limited exploration of this issue in the Black Sea, the research predominantly focuses on microplastic contamination. The GITs were sampled through necropsy from stranded and by-caught cetaceans, and content was washed through a multi-sieves tool. The material retained on each sieve was analysed following specific protocols. All (100%) of the GITs contained plastics (meso- and microplastics). In total, 1059 items (fibres, fragments, and beads) ranging from 22.86 µm to 5776 µm were found, suggesting a high contamination level in the Black Sea cetaceans. Future efforts should concentrate on increasing the number of samples and using the results for the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).

Funder

ACCOBAMS

Romanian Ministry of Research, Innovation, and Digitization

PONTICCET project

Publisher

MDPI AG

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