Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), Via Vitaliano Brancati, 60, 00144 Rome, Italy.
Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la MER (Ifremer), Centre Méditerranée, Z.P. de Brégaillon, 83507, La Seyne-sur-Mer and Bastia, France.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Sep 20;788:147745. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147745. Epub 2021 May 17.
The Mediterranean Sea is one of the most polluted marine basins and currently serves as a hotspot for marine litter. The seafloor represents the ultimate sink for most litter worldwide. Nevertheless, the knowledge about litter distribution and its interactions with benthic organisms in deep water is poorly understood. In 2018, we investigated spatial patterns of macro- and micro-litter distribution, and their effects on benthic communities in the Ligurian Sea. An oceanographic survey was carried out with a remotely operated vehicle and a multibeam echosounder on seven seamounts and canyons, at depths ranging from 350 to 2200 m. High litter accumulations were discovered at the mouth of the Monaco canyon, where estimated densities of up to 3.8 × 10 items km were found at 2200 m depth. The highest abundance of urban litter items was found on the soft substrate, at the bottom of the deeper parts of the submarine canyons, which seem to act as conduits carrying litter from the shelf towards deeper areas. In contrast, fishing-related items were most abundant in the upper layer of the seamounts (300-600 m depths). Furthermore, more than 10% of the observed deep gorgonian colonies were entangled by lost longlines, indicating the detrimental effects of this fishing gear on benthic habitats. The discovery of new litter hotspots and the evaluation of how deep-sea species interact with litter contribute to increasing the knowledge about litter distribution and its effects on the deep ecosystem of the Mediterranean basin. All the observations recorded in this study showed substantial and irreversible changes in the deep and remote areas of marine environments, and these changes were found to be caused by humans. Our findings further stress the need for urgent and specific measures for the management of deep-sea pollution and the reduction of litter inputs in the environment.
地中海是污染最严重的海洋盆地之一，目前是海洋垃圾的热点地区。海底是全球大多数垃圾的最终归宿。然而，人们对深海垃圾分布及其与底栖生物相互作用的了解甚少。2018 年，我们调查了利古里亚海的宏观和微观垃圾分布的空间模式及其对底栖生物群落的影响。利用遥控潜水器和多波束回声测深仪在七座海山和峡谷进行了海洋学调查，水深范围从 350 米到 2200 米。在摩纳哥峡谷的入口处发现了大量的垃圾堆积，在 2200 米的深处估计密度高达 3.8×10 个/km。在峡谷深处的软底质上发现了数量最多的城市垃圾，这些垃圾似乎充当了从大陆架向更深区域输送垃圾的通道。相比之下，与渔业相关的物品在海山的上层（300-600 米深处）最为丰富。此外，超过 10%的观察到的深海柳珊瑚殖民地被丢失的延绳钓缠绕，这表明这种渔具对底栖生境有不利影响。新的垃圾热点的发现以及深海物种与垃圾相互作用的评估有助于增加对垃圾分布及其对地中海盆地深海生态系统影响的了解。本研究中的所有观测结果表明，海洋环境的深海和偏远地区发生了实质性和不可逆转的变化，这些变化是由人类造成的。我们的研究结果进一步强调了需要采取紧急和具体的措施来管理深海污染和减少环境中的垃圾输入。
