Microplastic pollution in the world's oceans is often illustrated through evocative images of wildlife caught within large items floating on the surface, or microplastics blending in among the sand on otherwise pristine beaches.
The mass of plastics supplied to the ocean each year is vast, potentially up to 12.7 million tons through riverine input in addition to marine-based sources from fishing, aquaculture and shipping industries; yet, that which is observed on the surface does not match accordingly. Consequently, there are missing microplastic sinks in the marine realm.
New research, published in Frontiers in Marine Science, has identified the North Sea as home to some of these plastic sinks.
Dr. Danja Hoehn and colleagues at the Center for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, U.K., collected microplastic data in 2022 using a specialized Neuston Microplastic Catamaran (a floating catamaran with a mechanical flowmeter and mesh to capture plastics) on the ocean surface, as this is where microplastics first enter the ocean from terrestrial runoff or ship-based sources before sinking to the seabed.
The researchers found high microplastic concentrations in the coastal Southern Bight of the North Sea, peaking at over 25,000 items per square kilometer (items km-2, with a mean of ~8,700 items km-2), compared to nearby offshore Scottish (mean ~4,500 items km-2) and north-east Atlantic (mean ~3,200 items km-2) waters.
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