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Fig. 5. Impacts of debris and fishing litter on the rocky bottom of the Tyrrhenian Sea. (A) Ghost net covered in various epibionts such as sertulariid hydroids, Paramuricea
macrospina, Alcyonium palmatum and Cidaridae sea urchins (Banco Scuso – sc3, 140 m). (B) An old lost net entangled on a colony of Paramuricea clavata and stretching over a
mixed assemblage of Eunicella cavolinii and Corallium rubrum (Ischia – c5, 118 m). (C) Lost net, hosting the basket star Astrospartus mediterraneus, entirely wrapping a rocky
boulder and stretched over a population of Paramuricea macrospina (Banco Scuso – sc3, 120 m). (D) Colonies of Viminella flagellum and Callogorgia verticillata, hosting the
crinoids Leptometra phalangium, entangled and pulled by lines (Banco Marco – sc7, 270 m). (E) Old long line entangling a colony of Savalia savaglia, peeling off the tissue of the
gold coral. Filograna implexa, Poecillastra compressa and gastropods occurring on its dead parts (Porto corallo – s4, 90 m). (F) Fishing lines entangled on the black coral
Antipathella subpinnata (Banco Scuso – sc3, 140 m). (G) Encrusted glass bottle (Amalfi – c1, 94 m). (H) Discarded tire and net (Amalfi – c1, 84 m). (I) A hanging rope hosting
some specimens of Cidaridae (Banco Marco – sc7, 270 m). (J) A sack laid on the seafloor attracting Anthias anthias and other benthic species (Nisida – c3, 77 m). (K) Epibionted
net and other litter snagged on a rock (Isola del Toro -s12, 97 m). Scale bar: 10 cm. For interpretation of the references to the areas, the reader is referred to Table 1 and Fig. 1.

A pattern of decreasing debris density is not always correlated the structurally complex rocky habitat of the explored areas affect
with distance from the coast (Watters et al., 2010). Bo et al. the probability to find snagged lines (Chiappone et al., 2005;
(2014) suggested a negative relationship between the density of Watters et al., 2010).
lost lines and the distance to the coast. A higher number of sites
investigated in this study indicates, inside a distance range of 16 Instead, the observed plastic items (bags, bottles, other objects,
NM, a more complex situation. In fact, the presence of rocky banks, etc.) show a significant positive relation to depth. In most of the
which are exploited by commercial fisheries, drive the fishing investigated areas, the slope of rocky walls were very steep and
efforts which result in the presence of fishing debris, mainly lost high depths were reached relatively close the coast. In this situa-
line, being found far from the coastline. Moreover, differences in tion, the increase of plastic debris found in the deep habitat could
originate by both land-based sources and maritime activities.

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