Beach litter occurrence in sandy littoral: Case study – the Romanian Black Sea Coast

The paper presents the results of seasonal marine litter surveys carried out during the period 2014 – 2017 within 9 sectors of sandy beaches situated in Mangalia (7 sectors), Tuzla (1 sector) and Eforie Sud (1 sector) at the Romanian littoral of the Black Sea. These border seaward five marine protected areas: The submerged sulphurous springs from Mangalia (ROSCI0094), Aurora Cape (ROSCI0281), The Marine area from Tuzla Cape (ROSCI0273), The Submerged Beach from Eforie Nord - Eforie Sud (ROSCI0197) and ROSPA00076 Marea Neagra. The MarineLitterWatchAPP for Iphone/Ipad and Android developed within the PERSEUS FP7 project was used during both surveys from 2014 and 2015, conducted in the framework of the Marine Litter Watch Campaigns initiated by the project as well as during those carried out in 2016 and 2017 within the national program PN 16 45 05 01. Out of the twenty five litter types monitored, plastic/polystyrene and cigarettes buts and filter made up the highest contribution with more than 50% in all years. The results of surveys performed on the same beach from Mangalia (Mangalia 3 and Mangalia 4 sectors) evinced higher litter amount in 2016 and 2017 than in the previous years (2014 and 2015). Touristic activities and urban development proved to be the major sources of waste, since plastic and cigarettes were the most present items found in all locations.