Beaches as Sentinels for Ocean Plastic Pollution: Microplastic and Mesoplastic Pollution on Xia-Liao Beach, New Taipei City, Taiwan

Background: Microplastisc and mesoplastic particles of ocean plastic pollution are now scattered from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Each year, more than 8 million of plastic ends up in the oceans, damaging marine wildlife, fisheries, and tourism, and costing at least $8 billion in damage to marine ecosystems. The degradation of ecosystems also entails major health-related consequences. Those particles in marine ecosystems may not be biodegradable, as they can sink to the ocean floor. In 2016, Taiwan generated 7461342 tons of municipal solid waste of which some might be ending up in the ocean. Taiwanese people rely heavily on oceanic food sources as fishery production was up to 1256082 MMT in 2012. It is crucial to study microplastic pollution in Taiwan because it affects both this oceanic food source and also the coastal environments used for recreation. However, still comparatively little research has been conducted in Taiwan.
Methods: The study was conducted by sampling on the Xia Liao beach sand in New Taipei City, Taiwan with systematically sampling from dune to intertidal and doing extraction for the microplastics and mesoplastics by density separation and visual separation using Greenough Stereo microscope and polymer type analysis.
Results: 1939 microplastics and mesoplastics from the 0.25 m2 or equal with 485 particles per m2 and weight 71.44 gram recovered with fragment (59.1%), followed by Styrofoam (27.3%), pellets (11.2%), fishing lines (1.3%), plastic foils (0.9%), and fibers (0.2%) , white color (64.1%), secondary particles (88.8%), transect 1 had the most particles (51%), backshore (42.2%), there were significant differences between the number of microplastics and mesoplastics between the four transects (p=0.002) and four zones (p=0.013) which significant correlation between backshore and supralittoral (p=0.013), backshore and intertidal (p=0.015); significant differences between size categories across four transects (p=0.000) and four zones (p=0.015); significant differences between shape categories across four transects and four zones (p=0.000); significant correlation between the number of particles and transect 1 (0.012); significant correlation between the number of particles and weight (p=0.000).
Conclusions: My study found that there was huge heterogeneity among 1939 particles revered across four transects and four zones. Microplastics and mesoplastics are abundant which had large heterogeneity among the 80 samples which is an important result because my study is the first one to show such variation. Therefore, researchers should focus on (1) repeating a similarly designed study to see if this heterogeneity is a general pattern or not and (2) trying to investigate the physical factors which produce this heterogeneity.

Keywords: Microplastics, Mesoplastics, Plastic pollution, Taiwanese beach, coastal pollution, plastic waste.