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Plastic is one of the most commonly found residues in the marine environment, which can cause several impacts. This study evaluated the interaction of marine litter with surf-zone trammel nets in Southern Brazil. Fifty fishing operations were sampled, where 4213 items were captured: 1500 discarded fish, 1384 fragments of marine litter, and 1329 utilized fishes. Plastics were the most abundant items (n = 1363), representing 98.4% of the registered marine litter, especially plastic bags (n = 1191). 94.5% of registered marine litter is considered as single-use waste. The interaction with marine litter can cause negative impacts to small-scale fisheries (e.g. economic and damage to fishing nets). We highlight the urgency in implementing actions for urban solid waste management and public policies to reduce single-use plastics and educational campaigns on the environmental theme., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Although the perils of plastics to living organisms including humans have been neglected for decades, they have recently been recognized as a major environmental problem worldwide. Little progress has been made on understanding the factors that drive species' and populations' susceptibilities to the ingestion of plastic. Here, we propose using nutritional ecology as a multidisciplinary framework for bridging the gaps that link nutrition, behavior, plastics, physiology and ecology. We show that nutritional niches are tightly linked to plastic ingestion, illustrating the application of our framework in the context of nutritional niche theory, habitat-specific foraging from species to populations, and transfer patterns in food webs., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Plastic debris (PD) ingestion was examined in 106 Franciscana dolphins (Pontoporia blainvillei) incidentally captured in artisanal fisheries of the northern coast of Argentina. Twenty-eight percent of the dolphins presented PD in their stomach, but no ulcerations or obstructions were recorded in the digestive tracts. PD ingestion was more frequent in estuarine (34.6%) than in marine (19.2%) environments, but the type of debris was similar. Packaging debris (cellophane, bags, and bands) was found in 64.3% of the dolphins, with a lesser proportion (35.7%) ingesting fishery gear fragments (monofilament lines, ropes, and nets) or of unknown sources (25.0%). PD ingestion correlated with ontogenetic changes in feeding regimes, reaching maximum values in recently weaned dolphins. Because a simultaneous increase in gillnet entanglement and the bioaccumulation of heavy metals take place at this stage, the first months after trophic independence should be considered as a key phase for the conservation of Franciscana dolphin stocks in northern Argentina., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In this paper, we examined the ingestion of large marine debris (1 mm–1010 mm) in 21 odontocete species that were found dead or by-caught in low frequency in southern Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul State) and northern Argentina (Buenos Aires) between 1988 and 2020. Eight percent of the total individuals studied (13 out of 156), representing nine species, had ingested marine debris. Most of items were made of plastics (68 %), and within them, single-use plastic (e.g. plastic bags) were the dominant man-made items. Seven of the nine species that had ingested marine debris have been previously registered ingestion of this pollutant in other areas of their distribution. We also incorporated endemic odontocetes of the Southwest Atlantic Ocean to the list of affected marine organisms: the Burmeister's porpoise Phocoena spinipinnis , and the Lahille's bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops gephyreus. • We examined the ingestion of large marine debris (1mm-1010mm in size) in 156 individuals of 21 odontocetes species in southern Brazil and northern Argentina between 1988 and 2020. • Eight percent (8%) of the individuals, representing nine species, ingested marine debris. • Most of items were made of plastic (68%). • Two species are reported ingesting plastic for the first time: Phocoena spinipinnis and Tursiops gephyreus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]