An assessment of microplastics threat to the marine environment: A short review in context of the Arabian/Persian Gulf

doi:10.1016/j.marenvres.2020.104961

Marine Environmental Research

Volume 159, July 2020, 104961

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2020.104961 Get rights and content

Highlights

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A review of technical findings linked with microplastics, is conducted.
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The Arabian Gulf region is surveyed for microplastics sources.
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Plastic waste influence on the subject is studied.
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Evident link to primary (waste) and secondary (fragmentation) sources is discussed.
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Standardization in sampling techniques and results reporting is called for.

Abstract

Microplastics are recognised as a (persistent) pollutant and are believed to be ubiquitous in the marine environment. The importance of this issue is evident from the large number of technical publications and research efforts within the past decade. However, the Arabian (Persian) Gulf region has few reported datasets in spite of being an area with excessive plastic use and a hefty generation rate of plastic solid waste. This communication aims at stimulating a discussion on this topic focusing on the available regional and international datasets, along with the environmental conditions that are likely to contribute to the disintegration and transport of the plastic debris rendering it as microplastic. This work also highlights some of the constraints in sampling techniques, identification methods, and the reported units of microplastics. Most studies employ neuston nets of variable dimensions that samples different thicknesses of surface water, which also posses a major constraint in standardising field sample collection. Extrapolation of a trawl to units such as particles.km⁻² without considering the fact that neuston nets collect three-dimensional samples, is also another aspect discussed in this communication. This study also intends to initiate a discussion on standardising the practices across the region to enable an intercomparison of the reported data. In addition, it calls for a comprehensive assessment using the standardized methodology for putting a mitigation plan for microplastics as a potential threat detected in environmental sinks.

Graphical abstract

Section snippets

Introductory remarks

The dependency on plastics is noted to be increasing in various sectors. The main application, and by association representing the major demand sector of plastics resin, is packaging (Parker, 2018). This can easily be attributed to improvements of plastic packaging in reducing food wastage and bacterial contamination. Fig. 1 shows the global demand on plastic materials by sector where packaging, building/construction and institutional products represents the major share of the market by 45%,

Microplastics and surrounding environment

Microplastics have been defined as plastic particles of size range below 5 mm in size (Arthur et al., 2009). However, the term was initially used back in 2004 when it was used to describe microscopic plastic litter in marine environments (Thompson et al., 2004). These particle should not be confused with microlitter which has been defined previously by Gregory and Andrady (2003) as waste/debris particles that can pass through a 500 μm sieve and retained by a 67 μm sieve (0.06–0.5 mm in

Microplastics in context of Gulf

As mentioned earlier in the manuscript, there are limited studies conducted in the region to establish baseline information on microplastics abundance and types. Abbasi et al. (2018) surveyed five sites along Iran's coastline for the detection of microplastics and identifying their most abundant locations/presence. A total number of 828 microplastic particles that consisted mainly of fibrous fragments with a carbon and oxygen chains, in addition to metal elements. This is also consist with

Research efforts and main findings to date

Plastics will typically contain chemicals that will either stabilise their performance or aid in their degradation when exposed to the environment. These will typically contain a list of chemicals such diisoheptylphthalate, benzyl butyl phthalate, bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, di-(2-ethylhexyl) adipate (DEHA), di-octyladipate, diethyl phthalates (DEP), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), 2- and 3-t-butyl-4 hydroxyanisole (BHA) and arsenic compounds (Hahladakis et al., 2018). POPs are naturally

Conclusions and future recommendations

Plastic solid waste (PSW) generation and accumulation in the environment has the potential to fragment into finer particles. These fine fractions are more challenging to sample, identify and manage. They have been suggested to have a negative effect on the marine ecosystem functioning by acting as vectors for contaminant transport into marine food chains. This communication covered the distribution of marine microplastics in the Gulf, with the emphasis to highlight the limitations and data gap

Author contribution statement

Sultan Majed Al-Salem: Conceptualisation, Original Draft Preparation and Analysis; Saif Uddin: Conceptualisation and Review; Faiza Al-Yamani: Review and Editing.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors of this communication declare that they have no known competing interests or personal relationships that could influence the work in any shape or form.

Acknowledgment

The authors are grateful to the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) for their support. We also would like to thank the blind reviewers for their feedback and comments which enriched this article immensely.

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An assessment of microplastics threat to the marine environment: A short review in context of the Arabian/Persian Gulf

Highlights

Abstract

Graphical abstract

Section snippets

Introductory remarks

Microplastics and surrounding environment

Microplastics in context of Gulf

Research efforts and main findings to date

Conclusions and future recommendations

Author contribution statement

Declaration of competing interest

Acknowledgment

Mar. Pollut. Bull.

Chemosphere

Environ. Pollut.

Environ. Pollut.

J. Arid Environ.

Waste Manag.

Waste Manag.

Mater. Des.

J. Environ. Manag.

Polym. Degrad. Stabil.

Polym. Test.

J Environ Mange

Mar. Pollut. Bull.

Mar. Pollut. Bull.

Mar. Pollut. Bull.

Environ. Toxicol. Pharmacol.

Mar. Pollut. Bull.

Mar. Pollut. Bull.

Mar. Pollut. Bull.

Environ. Int.

Mar. Pollut. Bull.

Sci. Total Environ.

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Estuar. Coast Shelf Sci.

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Mar. Pollut. Bull.

Mar. Pollut. Bull.

Mar. Pollut. Bull.

Mar. Pollut. Bull.

Waste Manag.

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