The silent threat of plastics along the coastal frontiers of Bangladesh: Are we concerned enough?

Autor: Das N; Department of Oceanography, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet 3114, Bangladesh., Chowdhury GW; Department of Zoology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh., Siddique AB; Department of Oceanography, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet 3114, Bangladesh., Riya SC; Department of Oceanography, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet 3114, Bangladesh., Fazal MA; Department of Oceanography, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet 3114, Bangladesh., Sobhan F; Department of Oceanography, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet 3114, Bangladesh., Sarker S; Department of Oceanography, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet 3114, Bangladesh. Electronic address: subratasrk-ocg@sust.edu.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Marine pollution bulletin [Mar Pollut Bull] 2024 Aug; Vol. 205, pp. 116567. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jun 13.
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2024.116567
Abstrakt: Globally plastic pollution is posing a significant threat to the health and integrity of coastal ecosystems. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of plastic pollution in the coastal areas of Bangladesh by examining land-based macroplastic distribution, exploring microplastic (MP) contamination in the coastal aquatic ecosystem and enhancing our understanding of the potential risks associated with MP contamination. Citizen science based monitoring approach using the android application was applied to understand the land-based plastic pollution in the coastal area of Bangladesh. From December 2022 to December 2023, a total of about 3600 photographs of plastic items from 215 citizen scientists were received from the coastal area of Bangladesh covering 580 km long coast line. Polymer Hazard Index (PHI) and Pollution Load Index (PLI) were also calculated to understand the risk of plastic pollution in sediment, water, aquatic organism, dried fish and sea salt. A total of 43 land-based plastic items reported from the coastal area of Bangladesh. Among these plastic items single use items contributed 58.2 % while disposable plastic items contributed 41.8 %. A strong spatial variability in the distribution of these plastic items was observed. PHI and PLI values suggested hazard category-I for MP contamination in sediment, sea salt, water, commercial fishery resources and dry fish. This study highlighted that coastal land area, sea salt, dried fish, water, sediment and organisms are contaminated with plastics which might have the potential threats to human health. Findings from this study will serve as reference data and also baseline for future research to combat the plastic pollution.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Subrata Sarker reports financial support, administrative support, and equipment, drugs, or supplies were provided by Shahjalal University of Science and Technology. Gawsia Wahidunessa Chowdhury reports financial support was provided by University of Dhaka. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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