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, Rogelio González-Armas

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Scopus citations

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)604-610
Number of pages7
JournalMarine Pollution Bulletin
Volume145
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2019
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Marine debris
  • Mexico
  • Pacific Ocean
  • Plastics
  • Rainfall
  • Seasonality

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Seasonal variation in the abundance of marine plastic debris in Banderas Bay, Mexico'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this