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Marine Pollution Bulletin xxx (2015) xxx–xxx

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Marine Pollution Bulletin

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbul

Distribution and assessment of marine debris in the deep Tyrrhenian Sea

(NW Mediterranean Sea, Italy)

Michela Angiolillo a,⇑, Bianca di Lorenzo a, Alessio Farcomeni b, Marzia Bo c, Giorgio Bavestrello c,
Giovanni Santangelo d, Angelo Cau e, Vincenza Mastascusa f, Alessandro Cau e, Flavio Sacco e, Simonepietro
Canese a

a Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), III Dipartimento Tutela degli Habitat e della Biodiversità Marina, Via Vitaliano Brancati 60, 00144 Roma, Italy
b Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica e Malattie Infettive, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Roma, Italy
c Università degli Studi di Genova, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e della Vita, Corso Europa 16, 16132 Genova, Italy
d Università degli Studi di Pisa, Dipartimento di Biologia, Via Alessandro Volta 6, 56126 Pisa, Italy
e Università di Cagliari, Dipartimento di Biologia Animale ed Ecologia, Viale Poetto 1, 09126 Cagliari, Italy
f Università di Napoli Parthenope, Dipartimento di Scienze Applicate, Centro Direzionale, Is. C4, 80143 Napoli, Italy

article info abstract

Article history: Marine debris is a recognized global ecological concern. Little is known about the extent of the problem in
Available online xxxx the Mediterranean Sea regarding litter distribution and its influence on deep rocky habitats. A quantita-
tive assessment of debris present in the deep seafloor (30–300 m depth) was carried out in 26 areas off
Keywords: the coast of three Italian regions in the Tyrrhenian Sea, using a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). The
Submerged marine debris dominant type of debris (89%) was represented by fishing gears, mainly lines, while plastic objects were
Lost fishing gears recorded only occasionally. Abundant quantities of gears were found on rocky banks in Sicily and Camp-
Fishing impact ania (0.09–0.12 debris mÀ2), proving intense fishing activity. Fifty-four percent of the recorded debris
Deep rocky bottom directly impacted benthic organisms, primarily gorgonians, followed by black corals and sponges. This
Mediterranean Sea work provides a first insight on the impact of marine debris in Mediterranean deep ecosystems and a
ROV survey valuable baseline for future comparisons.

Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction The Mediterranean Sea, intensely studied over the past centu-
ries, is considered a marine biodiversity hotspot, characterized by
In the past, deep-sea ecosystems were among the least studied high levels of endemism (Bianchi and Morri, 2000). Most of the
and explored marine regions of the world, due to logistical difficul- investigations carried out in this basin were conducted above
ties in sampling deeper waters (Menza et al., 2008; Danovaro et al., 50 m depth. Only in recent times, several studies have focused
2010; Ramirez-Llodra et al., 2011). Recently, thanks to the avail- on deeper assemblages characterized by a great variety and abun-
ability of several technical devices (mainly Remote Operating Vehi- dance of habitat-forming taxa, such as sponges and corals, provid-
cles – ROVs), the interest of the marine scientific community has ing high biomasses and structural complexity (e.g. Aguiliar et al.,
increasingly focused on these particular environments, which sup- 2009; Bo et al., 2009; 2012a,b; Freiwald et al., 2009; Bongiorni
port high levels of habitat diversity, species longevity and provide a et al., 2010; Cerrano et al., 2010; Salvati et al., 2010; Gori et al.,
wealth of resources (Buhl-Mortensen et al., 2010; Ramirez-Llodra 2011; Fabri et al., 2014).
et al., 2011; Fabri et al., 2014).
A common assumption is that deep sea areas are less impacted
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 06 50074760; fax: +39 06 50072916. by anthropogenic disturbances (e.g., trawling, human litter, pollu-
tion, mining, oil drilling) (Hinderstein et al., 2010), whereas recent
E-mail addresses: michela.angiolillo@isprambiente.it (M. Angiolillo), bianca. research has shown that this environment is more subjected to and
dilorenzo@isprambiente.it (B.di Lorenzo), alessio.farcomeni@uniroma1.it (A. Farco- affected by human and natural impacts than previously thought
meni), marzia.bo@unige.it (M. Bo), giorgio.bavestrello@unige.it (G. Bavestrello), (Davies et al., 2007; Jones et al., 2007; Bongaerts et al., 2010).
gsantangelo@biologia.unipi.it (G. Santangelo), cau@unica.it (A. Cau), vincenzamas-
tascusa@gmail.com (V. Mastascusa), alessandrocau@unica.it (A. Cau), flaviosac- The Mediterranean Sea is located among some of the most den-
co@unica.it (F. Sacco), simonepietro.canese@isprambiente.it (S. Canese), sely populated and highly industrialized regions of the world and it
simonepietro.canese@isprambiente.it (S. Canese). is affected by intense shipping activity. The pollution of this sea has
been recognized internationally as a serious problem (Galil et al.,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.12.044
0025-326X/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Angiolillo, M., et al. Distribution and assessment of marine debris in the deep Tyrrhenian Sea (NW Mediterranean Sea,
Italy). Mar. Pollut. Bull. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.12.044