Blue Spark Put za Marleru 20, 52204 Ližnjan, Croatia.
Scion, Titokorangi Drive, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046, New Zealand.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2022 Dec;185(Pt A):114243. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114243. Epub 2022 Oct 29.
Marine plastic pollution, particularly microplastics, has been recognised as a global issue in the recent years, but research efforts in the Pacific are lagging. We carried out research on microplastics contamination of surface waters of the Vava'u archipelago, Tonga. Since microplastics smaller than the standard mesh size (333-335 μm) are readily reported in the literature on microplastics, we used a finer plankton net (100 μm) to determine the proportion of captured microplastics smaller than 300 μm. Isolated microplastics were counted and measured using stereomicroscope with polymer identification performed by FTIR spectroscopy. The analysis revealed high microplastics concentrations (329,299.7 ± 40,994.2 pcs km or 1.05 ± 0.13 pcs m). The proportion of particles smaller than 300 μm was 40 %. The predominant type of microplastics in surface waters were small bits of white film, which we associated with cement-filled white bags used to construct docks throughout Vava'u, often heavily eroded.
近年来，海洋塑料污染，尤其是微塑料，已被确认为一个全球性问题，但太平洋地区的研究工作却滞后了。我们对汤加瓦瓦乌群岛的地表水进行了微塑料污染研究。由于文献中常报道小于标准网目尺寸（333-335μm）的微塑料，因此我们使用更细的浮游生物网（100μm）来确定捕获的小于 300μm 的微塑料的比例。使用立体显微镜对分离出的微塑料进行计数和测量，并通过傅里叶变换红外光谱法进行聚合物识别。分析结果表明，微塑料浓度很高（329,299.7±40,994.2 pcs km 或 1.05±0.13 pcs m）。小于 300μm 的颗粒比例为 40%。地表水中小块白色薄膜是主要的微塑料类型，我们认为这些薄膜与用于建造瓦瓦乌码头的填充有水泥的白色袋子有关，这些袋子经常受到严重侵蚀。
