A preliminary assessment of ecosystem process and marine litter in the beaches of Mangalore

Abstract

<span style="font-size:9.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:="" "times="" roman";mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:en-us;="" mso-bidi-language:hi"="" lang="EN-US">Ecosystem process contributing to the marine litter was assessed by conducting beach litter survey in the beaches of Mangalore followed by gut analysis of oil sardine<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"> </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic">(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Sardinella longiceps</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic">)<span style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic"> and mackerel (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Rastrelliger kanagurta</i>). Gurupur and Nethravathi had the highest discharge of 28.1 cumecs and1331.2 cumecs respectively in Aug 2012. There was highly significant negative correlation with the sea level pressure (p<0.001) and discharge of both Nethravathi and Gurupur rivers. Maximum total number and weight of marine litter was observed inThannerbhavi (<span style="font-size:9.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";="" mso-bidi-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-ansi-language:en-in;mso-fareast-language:="" en-in;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="">632 numbers <span style="font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";="" mso-fareast-font-family:calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:"times="" mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:hi"="" lang="EN-US">/m²)and Chitrapur (<span style="font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";="" mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"times="" mso-ansi-language:en-in;mso-fareast-language:en-in;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="">10,923.05g/<span style="font-size:9.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:" times="" new="" roman";="" mso-fareast-font-family:calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:"times="" mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:hi"="" lang="EN-US"> m²) beaches respectively. Group of litter comprising nylon and plastic rope was the most abundant in the beaches. Oil sardine<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"> </i>and mackerel caught off Manglore had ingested fragments of nylon and plastic. Significant correlation (p<0.05) was observed between the discharge of Nethravathi and Gurupur river with the total weight and number of marine litter indicating that river discharge brought with it the marine litter. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>