DeFishGear project partner (IWRS from Slovenia) has been asked by the Fisheries Research Institute of Slovenia, who has extensive experience in MEDITS - International research initiative with bottom trawl in Mediterranean, to jointly research marine litter on the Slovenian sea floor.
Marine litter samples were collected by bottom trawl net type GOC 73, specially designed for scientific research. Monitoring was carried out on the scientific fishery boat “Andrea” – owned by University of Bologna (“Laboratorio di biologia marina e pesca, Bologna-Italy”). The main responsible person on board was Prof. Corrado Piccinetti.
The survey consisted of 2 hauls (sampling stations). The sampling stratus was in the depth zone between 20 – 50m. The haul duration was 30 minutes per each haul, with the average vessel speed of 3 knots.
In both hauls, marine litter was present. Total amount of 20 marine litter items, i.e. 1365 g of waste has been found. All plastic and metal materials were covered by marine organisms. In the second haul only artificial polymer materials (6 plastic bottles) have been collected. Interesting peculiarity related to this survey is that some small fishes have remained “trapped” in plastic bottles (see photos below).
Fruitful collaboration of the DeFishGear project partner (IWRS from Slovenia) and Fisheries Research Institute of Slovenia will be continued next year again.
