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Marine Litter Assessment on Some Beaches Along the Southeastern Adriatic Coastline (Albania)

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Plastics in the Aquatic Environment - Part I

Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC,volume 111))

Abstract

Marine litter is a truly global challenge, changing all oceans and seas of the world. Every year, millions of tons of litter end up in the coastal and marine environment worldwide, resulting in environmental, economic, health, and safety impacts. This study investigated the abundance, composition, and sources of marine litter stranded on four beaches located at Durrës Bay and in the Gulf of Drin, which also includes Rodoni Bay and Shëngjini Bay along the Albanian southern-eastern Adriatic coastline. During the winter 2015, 12 beach transects were surveyed, covering 12,000 m2 and extending over 1,000 m of the coastline. The mean litter density of the total four beaches studied was 219 items/100 m and 0.219 items/m2. The majority of litter items (58%) were plastic or artificial polymer materials. Other bottles and containers (drums) were the most frequently found items with a percentage of 6%, followed by cartons/tetra pack (others) with 5.7% and by cigarette butts and filters with 3.7%. The sites investigated differed in terms of human-induced pressures with two sites classified as semi-urban: one site as urban and one as rural. Litter from shoreline sources such as tourism and recreational activities, including poor waste management practices, accounted for 37.5% of litter collected, accounting for the vast majority of litter items. Sea-based sources of litter (fisheries and aquaculture, shipping) amounted to 8% of total litter items on all beach locations.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the European Union that financed the IPA – DeFishGear project. Albania was included in the international project which aims to facilitate efforts for integrated planning to reduce the environmental impacts of litter-generating (including plastic) activities and ensure the sustainable management of the marine and coastal environment of the Adriatic Sea. This is the second project for marine litter surveillance in Albania. The first surveillance was done for the demersal stock and marine litter in the Eastern Southern Adriatic Sea – supported by the FAO – AdriaMed Project.

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Author notes

  1. Jerina Kolitari and Laura Gjyli contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Durrës, Department of Aquaculture and Fishery, Agricultural University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania

    Jerina Kolitari

  2. Department of Applied and Natural Sciences, Aleksandër Moisiu University of Durrës, Durrës, Albania

    Laura Gjyli

Authors
  1. Jerina Kolitari
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  2. Laura Gjyli
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jerina Kolitari .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. German Federal Institute of Hydrology, Koblenz, Germany

    Friederike Stock

  2. German Federal Institute of Hydrology, Koblenz, Germany

    Georg Reifferscheid

  3. German Federal Institute of Hydrology, Koblenz, Germany

    Nicole Brennholt

  4. P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    Evgeniia Kostianaia

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Kolitari, J., Gjyli, L. (2020). Marine Litter Assessment on Some Beaches Along the Southeastern Adriatic Coastline (Albania). In: Stock, F., Reifferscheid, G., Brennholt, N., Kostianaia, E. (eds) Plastics in the Aquatic Environment - Part I. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 111. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2020_627

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