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Growing plastic pollution in the context of COVID-19 has caused significant challenges, exacerbating this already out-of-control issue. The pandemic has considerably boosted the demand for personal protective equipment (PPE), such as facemasks and gloves, all over the globe, and mismanaging this growing plastic pollution has harmed the environment and wildlife significantly. To mitigate negative environmental impacts, it is necessary to develop and implement effective waste management strategies. This present study estimated the daily facemask generation throughout the pandemic in Iran based on the distribution of urban and rural populations and, likewise, the daily generation of hand gloves in the COVID-19 era and the amount of medical waste generated by COVID-19 patients were calculated. In the next step, the quantities of discarded facemasks dumped into the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Gulf of Oman from the coastal cities were determined. Finally, the innovative alternatives for repurposing discarded facemasks in civil construction materials such as concrete, pavement, and partition wall panel were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, microplastic (MP) pollution in the coastal sediments and tidal waters of Bushehr province in the Persian Gulf was comprehensively investigated. The sampling stations were selected based on their proximity to various human activities in January and February 2022, such as tourism, fishing, urban development and industry. The results showed that the abundance of MP associated with different human activities varied. The highest concentrations were observed near the petrochemical industry in Asaluyeh, followed by the densely populated Bushehr and the fishing port of Dayyer. Other areas such as Ganaveh, Deylam and Mand also showed varying levels of MP contamination. The average MP concentration was 1.67 × 104 particles/km2 in surface water and 1346.67 ± 601.69 particles/kg in dry sediment. Fiber particles were in the majority in both sediment and water samples, mainly black. The sediment samples had a size range of 100–500 μm (41.34 %), while the water samples were between 500 and 1000 μm (33.44 %). The main polymers found were polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). This assessment highlights the widespread problem of microplastic pollution in the coastal and intertidal zones of Bushehr province in the Persian Gulf. • The study comprehensively examines microplastic pollution in Bushehr Province's coastal and tidal zones. • Varying microplastic levels are linked to distinct human activities. • The average concentration of microplastics was 1.67×104 particles/km² in surface water and 1346.67±601.69 particles/kg in sediment. • Dominant polymers are polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), with sediment ranging from 100-500 µm and water from 500-1000 µm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Haghshenas, S. A.; Ghader, S.; Yazgi, D.; Delkhosh, E.; Rashedi Birgani.; Razavi Arab, A.; N., Hajisalimi, Z., Nemati, M. H.; Soltanpour, M., and Jedari Attari, M., 2018. Iranian Seas Waters Forecast - Part I: An Improved Model for The Persian Gulf.. In: Shim, J.-S.; Chun, I., and Lim, H.S. (eds.), Proceedings from the International Coastal Symposium (ICS) 2018 (Busan, Republic of Korea). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, pp. 1216–1220. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The present study aims to improve the accuracy of forecasted wind and wave data generated by a wind-wave forcasting system over the entire Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz. A forecasting system has been developed and calibrated for winds and waves in the study area based on available observations. The performance of the developed forecasting system is favorably in agreement with the measured data; however, the model has deficiencies in capturing extreme events in certain situations. Hence, the simulated wind data are modified using a corrective method to obtain an optimum correlation factor between the simulated results and observations. This set of data is adopted as the input for the 3rd generation WaveWatch III wave model to simulate a new set of forecasted wave data. The output wave data are compared with the observations to evaluate the accuracy of the simulated wave estimations over the Persian Gulf. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global production of plastics has increased dramatically in recent decades and is considered a major threat to marine life and human health due to their stability, persistence, and potential to move through food chains. The study was conducted to detect, identify and quantify microplastics (MP) in the gastrointestinal tract (GI) of some commercial fish species in the North Persian Gulf in Bushehr Province: Psettodes erumei , Sphyraena jello , Sillago sihama , Metapenaeus affinis and Portunus segnis. A total of 216 plastic particles were collected from 102 individuals (72.68% of all sampled individuals; MP prevalence of 85.1% for M. affinis , 80% for P. segnis , 70% for P.erumei , 60.3% for S.sihama , 45.2% for S.jello). The average number of microplastics per organism was 2.26 ± 0.38 MP/ind (considering only species that ingested plastic, n = 102) and 1.51 ± 0.40 pieces/ind (considering all species studied, n = 140). Microfibers accounted for 58.49% of the total microplastics, followed by fragments (33.02%) and pellets (8.49%). The most common color of microplastic was black (52.83%), followed by blue (22.64%) and transparent (15.09%). The length of microplastic ranged from 100 to 5000 μm with an average of 854 ± 312 μm. Microplastics were significantly (p < 0.05) abundant in two shrimp studied: M. affinis and P. segnis (plastic in 80% of individuals studied) and to a lesser extent in the pelagic barracuda fish S. jello (plastic in 45% of individuals studied). The main synthetic polymers identified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were polyethylene (38%), polypropylene (24%), polystyrene (17%), polyethylene terephthalate (11%) and polyamide (10%). The pollutant load index and lifetime accumulation index were calculated to identify the most polluted species and their toxicity to human health. The white shrimp M. affinis was identified as the most polluted and toxic species for MP based on PLI. The present study can provide valuable data for further research and a background for the control and monitoring of this pollutant in the coastal environment of Bushehr province. • Five commercial marine fauna have been found to contain microplastics. • Predominant types are fibres (58.49%), polymer is polyethylene (38%), and color is black (52.83%). • Based on PLI for MPs, M. affinis is heavily contaminated. • Persian Gulf ecology needs restrictions on plastic pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]