Anthropogenic Marine Debris AMD in the SE Pacific has primarily local origins from land-based sources, including cities coastal and inland , beach-goers, aquaculture, and fisheries. The highest densities of floating micro- and macroplastics are reported from the SPSG. An extensive survey of photographic records, unpublished data, conference proceedings, and published studies revealed interactions with plastics for 97 species in the SE Pacific, including 20 species of fish, 5 sea turtles, 53 seabirds, and 19 marine mammals.
Sea turtles are most affected by interactions with plastics, underlined by the fact that 4 of the 5 species suffer both from entanglement and ingestion. Reports gathered in this review suggest that interactions along the continental coast are mostly via entanglement.
High frequencies of microplastic ingestion have been reported from planktivorous fish and seabirds inhabiting the oceanic waters and islands exposed to high densities of microplastics concentrated by oceanic currents in the SPSG. Our review also suggests that some species from the highly productive HCS face the risk of negative interactions with AMD, because food and plastic litter are concentrated in coastal front systems. In order to improve the conservation of marine vertebrates, especially of sea turtles, urgent measures of plastic reduction are needed.
Marine plastic pollution is generating impacts on marine biota and ecosystems at many different levels Ryan, Impacts are reported from a wide range of organisms, including microbiota, invertebrates, and vertebrates Galloway et al.
An increasing number of reports document microplastic ingestion by marine invertebrates Lusher, ; certain species also grow on large, floating plastic items, and can be transported to new habitats they had not previously inhabited Kiessling et al. Interactions with vertebrates are best known, because vertebrates are larger and therefore more visible and recognizable than small marine invertebrates. Entanglement of seabirds and marine mammals in large plastic litter nets, ropes, etc.
