Composition and abundance of benthic marine litter in the fishing grounds of Iskenderun Bay, northeastern Levantine coast of Turkey

Highlights: • A total of 806 litter items was collected from the Iskenderun Bay seafloor via bottom trawls. • The mean density of marine litter was 450.94 item/km² (90.34 kg/km²). • Marine litter density varied along the Iskenderun Bay. • Single-use plastic items represent about 74.9% of the total marine litter. The anthropogenic marine debris in the Mediterranean Sea represents a growing concern because of its potentially harmful impact on marine ecosystems. In this paper, we investigated the composition of marine debris in the Iskenderun Bay seafloor. Between November 2009 and April 2010, a total of 34 trawl operations were conducted. Hauls lasted 60–385 min, and the towing speed varied between 2.7 and 2.8 knots. The estimated average marine litter concentration was 450.94 item/km² (90.34 kg/km²). Plastic was the dominant material type (87%) at all stations. Single-use plastic items represented about 74.9% of the total marine litter. Our results showed that there is severe plastic pollution on the seafloor of Iskenderun Bay that may cause significant damage to both the fisheries sector and the marine environment.