MARINE LITTER BASED ON FOREIGN ORIGIN ON THE COASTS OF THE CANAKKALE STRAIT AND BOZCAADA ISLAND (NORTH AEGEAN SEA)

In this study, marine litter (ML) according to foreign origin was investigated on the coasts of the Canakkale Strait and Bozcaada Island (Northern Aegean Sea), where there is an extreme amount ship traffic in both regions, as they are important transition and pre-transition zones. As a result of this study, which was carried out daily at two stations between January and March 2021, a total of 28 pieces of foreign origin marine litter were identified as belonging to 10 countries by reading their barcodes. While the proportional distributions of ML density based on countries were found to be 8.00% for each of Switzerland, Mexico, Philippines, and Italy, 7.00% for each of Belgium and Tanzania at the station of Meteoroloji (Çanakkale Strait), they were found to be 33.0% for Greece, 13.0% for each Switzerland and Russia, 7.00% for each of Germany, Hungary and Tanzania at the station of Ayazma (Bozcaada Island). In particular, the fact that a large majority (33.0%) of the ML of foreign origin at the station located in the North Aegean Sea originates from Greece revealed that this ML may be originated from ship traffic, but also mostly originate from water current systems.While plastic was the most common ML in view of material type, the most common ML was mixed packaging wastes in view of usage area in both stations. It is needed to make and implement effective action plans as a solution to ML. It is recommended to include new actions in ML action plans in force regarding ML which is thought to originate from ships because ships crossing cause marine pollution.