Distribution and composition of seafloor marine litter in the southeastern Black Sea

This study was conducted to investigate seafloor marine litter abundance between Samsun (Yakakent) and Hopa within the scope of Integrated Marine Pollution Monitoring Project (CSB/CEDIDGM-TUBITAK/MAM) in summer 2019. Totally, the trawl hauling operations were successfully performed in 30 stations. The works were done according to the MEDITS protocol: sampling was done at 3 different depths (0-20 m, 20-50 m and 50-100 m), marine litter was classified in 9 categories. At all sampling stations marine litter was assessed by weight and amount. The most common marine litter group was L2 tire/rubber by weight (53%) and amount (67%) when L1 plastic group - 25% by weight and L5 fabric and natural fibres - 12% by amount. Especially in the L2 group, the car and truck tires were dominated in weight of CB5 (Trabzon- Surmene) and CB3 (Trabzon) stations.