Status of Sinop Sarikum lagoon marine litter under the scope of marine strategy framework directive: A case study

Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC) (MSFD), published by European Union (EU) in 2008, includes necessary measures to provide or maintain "Good Environmental Status" (GES) for the Member States up to 2020. In Directive 2008/56/EC, GES is determined for marine regions and sub-regions according to 11 qualitative 'descriptors' and among them, Descriptor 10 is related to the marine litter. Sarıkum Lagoon which is one of the significant wetlands of the Black Sea has been announced as Nature Reserve Area in 1987 and lagoon surroundings have been declared as Natural Protected Area in 1991. Lagoon and its surroundings due to the geographical location are exposed to a significant accumulation of solid waste both with the sea currents from neighboring countries and the influence of the prevailing winds in Sinop. Methods, proposed by Guidance on Monitoring of Marine Litter in European Seas that was published by EU MSFD Technical Subgroup on Marine Litter were used by adapting to the region. In this context, at the end of this study, quantity, distribution, composition, origin and station and time-dependent changes of macro marine litter in beach and sea bed were determined in according to the marine litter title within Descriptor 10. Between the stations and the time-dependent changes and quantity of microplastics were determined and potential resources of microplastics were estimated in beach, sea bed and sea surface. Fish which were captured during the beam trawl surveys done for seabed litter were investigated to determine whether the regional living organisms were affected by the marine litter. The current situation of the region under the Descriptor 10 was determined within the scope of MSFD published by EU for Sinop Sarıkum Lagoon. It was determined that the study area was contaminated with a large amount of litter and there was no litter in encountered fish in study area. The data obtained from results of this study will shed light on later similar studies.