International audience | Penguins have been recently identified as useful bioindicators of mercury (Hg) transfer to food webs in the Southern Ocean over different spatial and temporal scales. Here, feather Hg concentrations were measured in adults and chicks of all the seven penguin species breeding in the southern Indian Ocean, over a large latitudinal gradient spanning Antarctic, subantarctic and subtropical sites. Hg was also measured in feathers of museum specimens of penguins collected at the same sites in the 1950s and 1970s. Our aim was to evaluate geographical and historical variation in Hg transfer to penguins, while accounting for feeding habits by using the stable isotope technique (δ13C, habitat; δ15N, diet/trophic level). Adult feather Hg concentrations in contemporary individuals ranged from 0.7 ± 0.2 to 5.9 ± 1.9 µg g-1 dw in Adélie and gentoo penguins, respectively. Inter-specific differences in Hg accumulation were strong among both adults and chicks, and mainly linked to feeding habits. Overall, penguin species that feed in Antarctic waters had lower feather Hg concentrations than those that feed in subantarctic and subtropical waters, irrespective of age class and dietary group, suggesting different Hg incorporation into food webs depending on the water mass. While accounting for feeding habits, we detected different temporal variations in feather Hg concentrations depending on species. Notably, the subantarctic gentoo and macaroni penguins had higher Hg burdens in the contemporary rather than in the historical sample, despite similar or lower trophic levels, respectively. Whereas increases in Hg deposition have been recently documented in the Southern Hemisphere, future monitoring is highly needed to confirm or not this temporal trend in penguins, especially in the context of actual changing Hg emission patterns and global warming.

Marine debris has become a major form of pollution and a serious ecosystem health concern. The present study evaluates the accumulation, origin, and fate of debris in intertidal coral habitats of Mumbai-one of the world's highly populated coastal cities on the west coast of India. Predominantly, seven hermatypic coral species belonging to seven genera and five families were identified and mainly represented by Pseudosidastrea, Porites, and Bernardpora. In terms of number, the mean density of marine debris was 1.60 ± 0.13 SE items/m², which is higher than the global average. The mean density of plastic debris was 1.46 ± 0.14 SE items/m². Approximately 9% of total coral colonies were in physical contact with debris, and 22% of these colonies showed visible signs of partial bleaching. Single use plastic bags and wrappers were dominant plastic debris. The study area was characterized as ‘very poor cleanliness’ according to the Beach Quality Indexes, which include the Clean Coast Index, General Index, and Hazardous Items Index. The numerical model indicates the influence of river discharge and probable areas of plastic accumulation with high tidal currents in this region, maneuvering the spatial advection of litter in the nearshore areas. Combined analysis of ground-truthing and model simulation implies that the possible contributing sources of litter were representatives of land-based and sea-originated. The overall results point to increasing anthropogenic stressors threatening coastal coral communities, including marine debris pollution. It is advocated to adopt an integrated coastal zone management approach supported by coordinated policy frameworks could guide the mitigation of the debris footprint in coastal environments.

Microplastics (plastic < 5 mm in size) are now known to contaminate riverine systems but understanding about how their concentrations vary spatially and temporally is limited. This information is critical to help identify key sources and pathways of microplastic and develop management interventions. This study provides the first investigation of microplastic abundance, characteristics and temporal variation along the Ganges river; one of the most important catchments of South Asia. From 10 sites along a 2575 km stretch of the river, 20 water samples (3600 L in total) were filtered (60 samples each from pre- and post-monsoon season). Overall, 140 microplastic particles were identified, with higher concentrations found in the pre-monsoon (71.6%) than in post-monsoon (61.6%) samples. The majority of microplastics were fibres (91%) and the remaining were fragments (9%). We estimate that the Ganges, with the combined flows of the Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers (GBM), could release up to 1–3 billion (10⁹) microplastics into the Bay of Bengal (north-eastern portion of the Indian Ocean) every day. This research provides the first step in understanding microplastic contamination in the Ganges and its contribution to the oceanic microplastic load.

The little information available on fuel consumption and emissions by high seas tuna fisheries indicates that the global tuna fleet may have consumed about 2.5 Mt of fuel in 2009, resulting in the production of about 9 Mt of CO₂-equivalent greenhouse gases (GHGs), i.e., about 4.5–5% of the global fishing fleet emissions. We developed a model of annual fuel consumption for the large-scale purse seiners operating in the western Indian Ocean as a function of fishing effort, strategy, and vessel characteristics based on an original and unique data set of more than 4300 bunkering operations that spanned the period 2013–2019. We used the model to estimate the total fuel consumption and associated GHG and SO₂ emissions of the Indian Ocean purse seine fishery between 1981 and 2019. Our results showed that the energetic performance of this fishery was characterized by strong interannual variability over the last four decades. This resulted from a combination of variations in tuna abundance but also changes in catchability and fishing strategy. In recent years, the increased targeting of schools associated with fish aggregating devices in response to market incentives combined with the IOTC management measure implemented to rebuild the stock of yellowfin tuna has strongly modified the productivity and spatio-temporal patterns of purse seine fishing. This had effects on fuel consumption and air pollutant emissions. Over the period 2015 to 2019, the purse seine fishery, including its support vessel component, annually consumed about 160,000 t of fuel and emitted 590,000 t of CO2-eq GHG. Furthermore, our results showed that air pollutant emissions can be significantly reduced when limits in fuel composition are imposed. In 2015, SO₂ air pollution exceeded 1500 t, but successive implementation of sulphur limits in the Indian Ocean purse seine fishery in 2016 and 2018 have almost eliminated this pollution. Our findings highlight the need for a routine monitoring of fuel consumption with standardized methods to better assess the determinants of fuel consumption in fisheries and the air pollutants they emit in the atmosphere.

The importance of microplastic (MPs) contamination in marine environments is reflected by increasing number of studies in fish species. Some even dedicated to the toxicological effects from the ingestion. Microplastics (MPs) and their trace metal composition were examined in the muscle and intestine of five commercially important fish species (i.e., Sufflamen fraenatus, Heniochus acuminatus, Atropus atropos, Pseudotriacanthus and Leiognathus brevirostris) from Thoothukudi at the Gulf of Mannar coast in south India. The abundance and morphology of MPs (size, shape, and texture) in muscle and intestinal were investigated by micro-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (μ-FT-IR) and atomic force microscope (AFM). ICP-OES was used to investigate the adsorption/leaching of trace metals in microplastics in order to assess health risk for adults and children. Particles of 100–250 μm and white color dominated, and the mean abundances (items/100 g) of total MPs were more in Pseudotriacanthus (muscle: 51.2; intestine: 50.1) compared to Heniochus acuminatus (muscle: 9.6; intestine: 15), Leiognathus brevirostris (muscle: 12; intestine: 13.2) and Atropus atropus (muscle: 15.2; intestine: 44.1). Polyethylene (35.3%), polypropylene (27.2%), polyamide (nylon) (22.2%) and fiber (15.3%) represented the MPs present in muscles, and polyamide (nylon) (30.2%), polyethylene (28.1%), polypropylene (25.9%), and fiber (15.8%) composed the intestine MPs. We estimated possible consumption of 121–456 items of MPs/week by adults and about 19–68 items of MPs/week by children by considering the sizes of safe meals. Zn, Cu, Mn and Cr in these fish species reflected influence of the sewage waste. However, the non-carcinogenic risk evaluated through EDI, THQ, HI, and CR did not suggest any immediate health problem for the consumers.

Chokka squid (Loligo reynaudii) from three sites along the South African coast were analyzed for halogenated natural products (HNPs) and anthropogenic persistent organic pollutants (POPs). HNPs were generally more than one order of magnitude more abundant than POPs. The most prevalent pollutant, i.e. the HNP 2,3,3′,4,4′,5,5′-heptachloro-1′-methyl-1,2′-bipyrrole (Q1), was detected in all chokka squid samples with mean concentrations of 105, 98 and 45 ng/g lipid mass, respectively, at the Indian Ocean (site A), between both oceans (site B) and the South Atlantic Ocean (site C). In addition, bromine containing polyhalogenated 1′-methyl-1,2′-bipyrroles (PMBPs), 2,4,6-tribromophenol (2,4,6-TBP, up to 28 ng/g lipid mass), polybrominated methoxy diphenyl ethers, MHC-1, TBMP and other HNPs were also detected. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were the predominant class of anthropogenic POPs. PCB 153 was the most abundant PCB congener in chokka squid from the Indian Ocean, and PCB 138 in samples from the South Atlantic Ocean and between both oceans.

Humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, breeding off la Reunion Island (Indian Ocean) undergo large-scale seasonal migrations between summer feeding grounds near Antarctica and their reproductive winter grounds in the Indian Ocean. The main scope of the current study was to investigate chemical exposure of humpback whales breeding in the Indian Ocean by providing the first published data on this breeding stock concerning persistent organic pollutants (POPs), namely polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), DDT and its metabolites (DDTs), chlordane compounds (CHLs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and methoxylated PBDEs (MeO-PBDEs). Analyses of stable isotopes δ13C and δ15N in skin resulted in further insight in their feeding ecology, which was in agreement with a diet focused mainly on low trophic level prey species, such as krill from Antarctica. POPs were measured in all humpback whales in the order of HCB > DDTs > CHLs > HCHs > PCBs > PBDEs > MeO-BDEs. HCB (median: 24 ng g−1 lw) and DDTs (median: 7.7 ng g−1 lw) were the predominant compounds in all whale biopsies. Among DDT compounds, p,p′-DDE was the major organohalogenated pollutant, reflecting its long-term accumulation in humpback whales. Significantly lower concentrations of HCB and DDTs were found in females than in males (p < 0.001). Other compounds were similar between the two genders (p > 0.05). Differences in the HCB and DDTs suggested gender-specific transfer of some compounds to the offspring. POP concentrations were lower than previously reported results for humpback whales sampled near the Antarctic Peninsula, suggesting potential influence of their nutritional status and may indicate different exposures of the whales according to their feeding zones. Further investigations are required to assess exposure of southern humpback whales throughout their feeding zones.

Four organophosphorus esters (OPEs) were detected in aerosol samples collected in the West Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean from 2009 to 2010, suggesting their circumpolar and global distribution. In general, the highest concentrations were detected near populated regions in China, Australia and New Zealand. OPE concentrations in the Southern Ocean were about two orders of magnitude lower than those near major continents. Additionally, relatively high OPE concentrations were detected at the Antarctic Peninsula, where several scientific survey stations are located. The four OPEs investigated here are significantly correlated with each other, suggesting they may derive from the same source. In the circumpolar transect, OPE concentrations were associated with ocean gyres in the open ocean. Their concentrations were positively related with average vorticity in the sampling area suggesting that a major source of OPEs may be found in ocean gyres where plastic debris is known to accumulate.

This paper reports trends in the input of underwater noise source energy emission from global shipping, based on bottom-up modeling of individual ships. In terms of energy, we predict the doubling of global shipping noise emissions every 11.5 years, on average, but there are large regional differences. Shipping noise emissions increase rapidly in Arctic areas and the Norwegian Sea. The largest contributors are the containerships, dry bulk and liquid tanker vessels which emit 75% of the underwater shipping noise source energy. The COVID-19 pandemic changed vessel traffic patterns and our modeling indicates a reduction of −6% in global shipping noise source energy in the 63 Hz ⅓ octave band. This reduction was largest in the Greenland Sea, the Coastal Waters of Southeast Alaska and British Columbia as well as the Gulf of California, temporarily disrupting the increasing pre-pandemic noise emission trend. However, in some sea areas, such as the Indian Ocean, Yellow Sea and Eastern China Sea the emitted noise source energy was only slightly reduced. In global scale, COVID-19 pandemic reduced the underwater shipping noise emissions close to 2017 levels, but it is expected that the increasing trend of underwater noise emissions will continue when the global economy recovers.

Microplastics (MPs) are a global environmental concern and pose a serious threat to marine ecosystems. This study aimed to determine the abundance and distribution of MPs in beach sediments (12 beaches), marine biota (6 beaches) and the influence of microbes on MPs degradation in eco-sensitive Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar coast. The mean MP abundance 65.4 ± 39.8 particles/m² in beach sediments; 0.19 ± 1.3 particles/individual fish and 0.22 ± 0.11 particles g⁻¹ wet weight in barnacles. Polyethylene fragments (33.4%) and fibres (48%) were the most abundant MPs identified in sediments and finfish, respectively. Histopathological examination of fish has revealed health consequences such as respiratory system damage, epithelial degradation and enterocyte vacuolization. In addition, eight bacterial and seventeen fungal strains were isolated from the beached MPs. The results also indicated weathering of MPs due to microbial interactions. Model simulations helped in tracking the fate and transboundary landfall of spilled MPs across the Indian Ocean coastline after the X-Press Pearl disaster. Due to regional circulations induced by the monsoonal wind fields, a potential dispersal of pellets has occurred along the coast of Sri Lanka, but no landfall and ecological damage are predicted along the coast of India.