Seasonal variation in the abundance of marine plastic debris

Seasonal variation in the abundance of marine plastic debris in Banderas Bay, Mexico

Tania Pelamatti, Iliana A. Fonseca-Ponce, Lorena M. Rios-Mendoza, Joshua D. Stewart, Emigdio Marín-Enríquez, Ana J. Marmolejo-Rodriguez, Edgar M. Hoyos-Padilla, Felipe Galván-Magaña and Rogelio González-Armas.

Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume 145, 2019, 604-610

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.06.062

Abstract 

A floating plastic monitoring program was conducted for two years on a weekly basis in Banderas Bay, Mexico. A total of 94 samples were collected from May 2016 to April 2018 in the southern part of the bay. Half (57%) of them contained plastic debris; 79% of it being < 5 mm in length. Polypropylene and Polyethylene were the most abundant polymers, accounting for 45% and 43% of the plastic pieces (pp), respectively. The highest abundance of plastic pieces was found in July 2016, with a maximum of 0.3 pp/m3 found in one sample. The amount of floating plastics was significantly higher in the hurricane season compared to the dry season (p < 0.001). This suggests that rainfall may play a significant role in the offload of plastics from land-based sources into the bay. 

Keywords: Plastics, Pacific Ocean, Mexico, Marine debris, Seasonality, Rainfall