Recently, a document entitled “10 facts about marine pollution by microplastics” (“10 fatos sobre a poluição marinha por microplásticos”, in Portuguese) was published by I-plastics, an international project in which Instituto de Ciências do Mar (LABOMAR) participates.

This document, written in Portuguese, explains, in a simple and accessible language, how elevated levels of pollution can affect ecosystems and human populations. It further states that the higher concentration of microplastic is found near urban centres and that these plastics mostly reach the ocean through estuaries. The goal is to raise awareness for the need of new public policies to significantly reduce plastic pollution in the following decades.

The need to create such a document aroused after a recent analysis of the Cocó River, in the Fortaleza coast, identified a high microplastic contamination. Through the I-plastics project, researchers decided to analyse, not only the environmental impact in both tropical and temperate seas, but also to understand the transport of this pollutants in rivers passing by big cities. Research was done in the Delta region of the Ebro river, in Spain, in the Mondego river, Portugal, and the Cocó river, in Ceará, Brazil. Concerning the later, contamination was found in the water, sediments, and fauna, throughout the year. Furthermore, the main sources of pollution were identified to be domestic sewage, car tires, highways, buildings, and vessels.

The I-plastics is a JPI Oceans project, dedicated to researching the ecological aspects of microplastics in the marine environment, with the aim to increase the impact of investments in maritime research and innovation.

Source: Universidade Federal do Ceará

Image Credits: LABOMAR/I-Plastics