Microplastics

Most marine microplastics originate on land, yet Mediterranean streams remain poorly quantified as delivery pathways. This study sampled sediments along the Na'aman Stream south of Akko, at its outlet and on the nearby beach, during the dry and rainy seasons of 2021, and classified every particle by size, shape, colour and polymer.

Microplastics accumulated temporarily about 50 metres upstream of the outlet, reaching 1,148 plus or minus 388 particles per kilogram of dry sediment in autumn, before the first rains flushed the system. Fragments dominated, followed by foam and film, pointing to consumer products and packaging waste within the watershed. To our knowledge this is the first systematic quantification of microplastics in an Israeli freshwater stream.

Marine protected areas restrict extraction, but they offer no shield against plastic and other debris arriving from within and beyond their boundaries. Using SCUBA transects across 45 stations in a Cypriot marine protected area, this work mapped the density of benthic anthropogenic debris on the seabed.

Thirty one generalized linear mixed models were compared, and the best fit combined depth with distance to recreational hotspots. Density surface modelling on a 100 by 100 metre grid predicted up to 1,130 debris items per hectare, concentrated in shallow water along the eastern coastline where recreation is most intense. The result argues that protected area managers must regulate polluting activities, not only extractive ones.