Abundance, distribution and correlation of microplastics in Tuapejat coastal water Mentawai Islands Indonesia

Abstract

Tuapejat is the capital city of the Mentawai Islands Regency which is located in North Sipora District, Indonesia. Beside as being the most populous city, Tuapejat is also the center of marine tourism and various activities such as urbanization, restaurants, hotels and trade. Those anthropogenic activities have the potential to provide input of plastics waste into the oceans which eventually degrades into microplastics, which then may pose a major threat to both biota and humans. This study aims to determine and quantify the microplastics content in water and sediment in these coastal waters which was conducted in August 2022. Sampling was carried out at three stations and the results of the study showed that the types of microplastics found were fibers, fragments and films. The highest total microplastics abundance was in commercial port area, whilst the lowest was found around fishing port in both seawater and sediment, respectively. The abundance of microplastics in seawater and sediments between stations in Tuapejat coastal waters was significantly different (p<0.05), and there was a positive relationship between the abundance of microplastics in seawater and in sediments. The differences between stations and the relationships that occur are discussed by looking at the influence of water quality parameters and anthropogenic activities around the sampling locations.