Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
MARINE LITTER IN THE BLACK SEA, ss.111-135, 2020 (SCI-Expanded)
The present study aims to determine the composition, abundance, density and accumulation areas ofmarine litter on the seafloor of the Turkish coastal part of the western Black Sea. The marine litter was collected with the trawl net, designed in accordance with the MEDITS trawl net plan. The survey was carried out in autumn 2019 with 14 trawl hauls in total. The duration time of the hauls was 30 minutes at a constant speed of 3 knots and depths 10-80 m in the coastal area. Litter items were identified according to the methodology and protocols of MEDITS (2017). The average abundance of marine litter on the western Black Sea seafloor was calculated as 111 +/- 37.40 items km(-2) (between 30 and 390 items km(-2)) and average weight 86.31 +/- 59.17 kg km(-2) (between 0.30 and 831 kg km(-2)). The ratio of marine litter in the study area was 71.43%. Plastic was the most common material with average abundance 79.28 +/- 26.42 items km(-2). The abundance and weight of seafloor litter increased from western to eastern part of the studied area. The obtained data could be useful as a baseline for the future studies of seafloor marine litter in the Black Sea.