Assessment of beach litter pollution in Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco: a study of macro and meso-litter on Mediterranean beaches.

ABSTRACT: We conducted surveys of Mediterranean beaches in Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia including 37 macro-litter (> 25 mm) and 41 meso-litter (5-25 mm) assessments. Our study identified key litter items and assessed pollution sources on urban, semi-urban, tourist, and semi-rural beaches. Macro-litter concentration averaged 5032 ± 4919 pieces per 100 m or 1.71 ± 2.28 pieces/m², with higher values observed on urban (mean 2.63 pieces/m² ± 3.03) and tourist (mean 1.23 pieces/m² ± 0.91) beaches. Similarly, urban (mean 9.91 pieces/m² ± 12.70) and tourist beaches (mean 5.32 pieces/m² ± 4.48) revealed elevated levels of meso-litter contamination, particularly in the upper third of the beach, which contained the highest quantities both in terms of number

SUBMITTER: Haseler M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11695667 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature