Posidonia oceanica banquettes as indicators of plastic pollution and tools for coastal management in Malta

Abstract

The establishment of the Environment and Resources Authority in April 2016 signified a fundamental transformation in Malta’s approach to environmental legislation, compliance, and marine protection. The Maltese coastal areas have been a big part of this transformation because of intensive coastal use, tourism economy and growing population (Axiak et al., 1999; Deidun et al., 2005).

Plastic pollution highlights the constant tension between economic development in the coastal areas and the need for marine environmental protection. Plastic litter can enter the marine environment from land-based sources, including urban runoff, tourism-related activities, and inadequate waste management, while maritime activities contribute additional inputs (Andrady, 2017; Jambeck et al., 2015). Once in the marine environment, plastic waste can persist and break up into smaller items which can enable wide distribution; these smaller pieces can interact with habitat and species and thus have implications for ecosystem structure and function (Koelmans et al., 2016).

In the Maltese Islands, about 60% of the coastline is not accessible, which magnifies pressures on the remaining due to high population and tourism (Deidun et al., 2005), which can exacerbate plastic accumulation. Despite growing policy attention, plastic pollution monitoring often remains disconnected from ecological interactions and ecosystem-level processes. Conventional beach litter surveys and seabed assessments quantify the presence of plastics but provide limited insight into how plastics interact with coastal ecosystems or how natural processes may mitigate or amplify impacts (MSFD Technical Subgroup on Marine Litter, 2013). [extract]