Marine litter on the seafloor of the southern Baltic

Abstract Marine litteroccurrence and composition were investigated during routine bottom trawlfish surveys type BITS performed in the Polish Maritime Areas (the southern BalticSea). Sampling covered a distance of 325 km and an area of 16 km 2 at a depth range of 19–110 m. Litterdensities varying between 0 items/ha (34% of tows) and 2.23 items/ha with a mean of 0.20 items/ha (SD = 0.30) are at the bottom range of densities reported from other shelf habitats worldwide at similar water depths. The majority of the items (40%) were found at a depth range of 51–60 m. Overall, plastic was the most common littertype (67% of all items) found in all towswith litter. The results of this study indicate that despite the Balticbeing a semi-enclosed basin, with a densely populated coastline and extensive shipping, marine litterpollution of the southern Balticseafloor is low compared to other coastal areas.