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DENSITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF MARINE LITTER ON THE SEAFLOOR IN THE BULGARIAN BLACK SEA AREA

Marina Panayotova, Radoslava Bekova, Bogdan Prodanov

Abstract

The study aims to assess the diversity, density, and heterogeneity of seafloor litter, distributed in the Bulgarian Black Sea’s shelf area. The indicators for assessment follow the national monitoring program under Descriptor D10 of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The survey campaign took place between 19.10 – 14.11.2017. Marine debris was gathered by 53 trawl hauls distributed in four regions at depths between 30 and 100m. During the survey, all litter items were collected and classified into seven categories following the master list of litter items for the European seas. The number of items per square kilometer was estimated for the whole shelf area and by regions. Our findings revealed the presence of items belonging to the categories of artificial polymer materials, metal, rubber, cloth/textile, paper/cardboard and processed/worked wood. Artificial polymers prevail in total abundance with a share of 85%, followed by textile (11%) and metal (2%). Hierarchical cluster analysis differentiates two groups of stations based on their composition of items by categories. The Southern shelf region was highlighted with the higher densities of items (0 - 599.95 items.km-2) compared to the Northern (0 – 337.47 items.km-2). Two shelf regions have similar average heterogeneity and diversity of seafloor litter according to Shannon–Wiener’s diversity index (H’). The conducted monitoring survey and newly collected data contribute to the development of thresholds for the indicators under D10 and assessing the status of the marine environment.

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