Plastic ingestion by harbour porpoises Phocoena phocoena in the Netherlands: Establishing a standardised method

Stomach contents of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) collected in the Netherlands between 2003 and 2013 were inspected for the presence of plastic and other man-made litter. In 654 stomach samples the frequency of occurrence of plastic litter was 7% with less than 0.5% additional presence of nonsyntheticman-made litter. However, we show that when a dedicated standard protocol for the detection of litter is followed, a considerably higher percentage (15% of 81harbour porpoise stomachs from the period 2010–2013) contained plastic litter. Results thus strongly depended on methods used and ti... Mehr ...