Plastic debris in the Ecuadorian shoreline, coastal and deep-water zones of the eastern Pacific margin
Abstract
Although 28 studies worldwide have documented plastic debris on the deep-sea floor, only one has addressed the eastern Pacific margin. Equally uncommon are long-term beach monitoring programs that integrate debris counts with oceanographic and meteorological records. This study delivers the first combined evidence of abyssal contamination and a six-year coastal time series in the equatorial eastern Pacific, establishing a rare dual perspective on plastic transport and deposition across connected marine environments. In February 2024, the submarine NAUTILE completed 13 dives to depths >3 900 m along Ecuador’s continental margin, surveying debris across the shelf, slope, and abyssal trench. The survey covered >560 000 m² and 222 h of video, revealing degraded fishing gear at cold seeps and relatively intact bags, packaging, and bowls at depth, exhibiting a probable polymer composition dominated by polyethylene, polypropylene, and nylon. Approximate visual encounter estimates, the density of abyssal litter reached between 0.016 and 0.019 g/m². To contextualize these findings, a six-year dataset (2019–2025) from a fixed 100 m² beach station recorded 152.9 kg of debris, with an accumulation rate of 5.7 g/week/m². Oceanographic variables (temperature, wind, solar radiation, pH) were associated with transport, burial, and fragmentation processes, with food packaging and fishing gear dominant across depths. Notably, similar items (bags, food bowls, bottles, and nylon threads) were documented both on the beach and at abyssal depths, providing suggestive evidence of connectivity between coastal and deep-sea debris sources. Our study thus represents the first report of plastic pollution in the eastern equatorial Pacific abyss and highlights the need for integrated monitoring and policy frameworks that address marine plastic pollution across connected ecosystems.
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BibTeX
@article{michaud2026plastic,
title = {{Plastic debris in the Ecuadorian shoreline, coastal and deep-water zones of the eastern Pacific margin}},
author = {François Michaud and Franklin Isaac Ormaza-González and Carlos Martillo-Bustamante and Dafne E Vera-Mosquera and Matthieu Gougeon and Gueorgui Ratzov and Jean-Frederic Lebrun and Jean-Yves Collot and Pedro Reyes and Cedric Boulart and Laura Noel and Boris Marcaillou and Marc Sosson and Sylvain Palagonia and Audrey Galve and Kouao N’guetta and Jean-Noël Proust},
journal = {Frontiers in Marine Science},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.3389/fmars.2026.1870781},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05754979v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Plastic debris in the Ecuadorian shoreline, coastal and deep-water zones of the eastern Pacific margin
AU - François Michaud
AU - Franklin Isaac Ormaza-González
AU - Carlos Martillo-Bustamante
AU - Dafne E Vera-Mosquera
AU - Matthieu Gougeon
AU - Gueorgui Ratzov
AU - Jean-Frederic Lebrun
AU - Jean-Yves Collot
AU - Pedro Reyes
AU - Cedric Boulart
AU - Laura Noel
AU - Boris Marcaillou
AU - Marc Sosson
AU - Sylvain Palagonia
AU - Audrey Galve
AU - Kouao N’guetta
AU - Jean-Noël Proust
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/17
JO - Frontiers in Marine Science
DO - 10.3389/fmars.2026.1870781
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05754979v1
AB - Although 28 studies worldwide have documented plastic debris on the deep-sea floor, only one has addressed the eastern Pacific margin. Equally uncommon are long-term beach monitoring programs that integrate debris counts with oceanographic and meteorological records. This study delivers the first combined evidence of abyssal contamination and a six-year coastal time series in the equatorial eastern Pacific, establishing a rare dual perspective on plastic transport and deposition across connected marine environments. In February 2024, the submarine NAUTILE completed 13 dives to depths >3 900 m along Ecuador’s continental margin, surveying debris across the shelf, slope, and abyssal trench. The survey covered >560 000 m² and 222 h of video, revealing degraded fishing gear at cold seeps and relatively intact bags, packaging, and bowls at depth, exhibiting a probable polymer composition dominated by polyethylene, polypropylene, and nylon. Approximate visual encounter estimates, the density of abyssal litter reached between 0.016 and 0.019 g/m². To contextualize these findings, a six-year dataset (2019–2025) from a fixed 100 m² beach station recorded 152.9 kg of debris, with an accumulation rate of 5.7 g/week/m². Oceanographic variables (temperature, wind, solar radiation, pH) were associated with transport, burial, and fragmentation processes, with food packaging and fishing gear dominant across depths. Notably, similar items (bags, food bowls, bottles, and nylon threads) were documented both on the beach and at abyssal depths, providing suggestive evidence of connectivity between coastal and deep-sea debris sources. Our study thus represents the first report of plastic pollution in the eastern equatorial Pacific abyss and highlights the need for integrated monitoring and policy frameworks that address marine plastic pollution across connected ecosystems.
SN - 2296-7745
ER -