Seashore Litters Impact on Biological Resources of Arctic Seas

Abstract

In the present manuscript, the impact of seashore plastic litter on the Arctic aquatic environment with a primary focus on fish is discussed. Plastic pollution of seashore and aquatic ecosystem became a major environmental problem in the late 1990s, when it was considered as a major threat for aquatic ecosys-tem. In recent years, the microplastic (MP) pollution has raised scientific attention and awareness as severe threat for aquatic ecosystem. Since fish is a significant source of food and wealth of Arctic countries, the shrinkage of fishing rates caused by aquatic ecosystems plastic pollution can lead to a significant negative effect on the well-being of the Arctic countries’ population and economy. Recent studies showed significant amount of MP in Arctic seas. The MP particles were found in more than 90% of the studied water samples from the Barents Sea. This indicates that MP has become a major threat for aquatic life in the Arctic. Despite the fact the MP may pose harmful effects to aquatic life, there is still a lack of valid information concerning this research. Moreover, standard and generally accepted protocols for MP pollution monitoring and risk assessment need to be implemented. In view of the above, the current state of the problem is described in this paper.

Keywords

• plastic pollution
• microplastic
• aquatic ecosystem
• arctic
• marine litter
• arctic environmental problem