Fire and Oil Led to Complex Mixtures of PAHs on Burnt and Unburnt Plastic during the M/V X-Press Pearl Disaster.

In May 2021, the M/V X-Press Pearl container ship burned for 2 weeks, leading to the largest maritime spill of resin pellets (nurdles). The disaster was exacerbated by the leakage of other cargo and the ship's underway fuel. This disaster affords the unique opportunity to study a time-stamped, geolocated release of plastic under real-world conditions. Field samples collected from beaches in Sri Lanka nearest to the ship comprised nurdles exposed to heat and combustion, burnt plastic pieces (pyroplastic), and oil-plastic agglomerates (petroplastic). An unresolved question is whether the 1600+ tons of spilled and recovered plastic should be considered hazardous waste. Due to the known formation and toxicity of combustion-derived polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), we measured 20 parent and 21 alkylated PAHs associated with several types of spilled plastic. The maximum PAH content of the sampled pyroplastic had the greatest amount of PAHs recorded for marine plastic debris (199,000 ng/g). In contrast, the sampled unburnt white nurdles had two orders of magnitude less PAH content. The PAH composition varied between the types of spilled plastic and presented features typical of and conflicting with petrogenic and pyrogenic sources. Nevertheless, specific markers and compositional changes for burning plastics were identified, revealing that the fire was the main source of PAHs. Eight months after the spill, the PAH contents of sampled stray nurdles and pyroplastic were reduced by more than 50%. Due to their PAH content exceeding levels allowable for plastic consumer goods, classifying burnt plastic as hazardous waste may be warranted. Following a largely successful cleanup, we recommend that the Sri Lankans re-evaluate the identification, handling, and disposal of the plastic debris collected from beaches and the potential exposure of responders and the public to PAHs from handling it. The maritime disaster underscores pyroplastic as a type of plastic pollution that has yet to be fully explored, despite the pervasiveness of intentional and unintentional burning of plastic globally.

Changes in illegal fishing dynamics in a large-scale MPA during COVID-19.

Global socio-ecological shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can threaten progress in protecting vulnerable marine environments by altering behaviour of resource users1. When government priorities shift from environmental protection towards safeguarding human populations, control of illegal activity in protected areas can alter. Resulting increases in illegal fishing in large-scale marine protected areas (MPAs) are of particular concern as they contain a large proportion of marine protected area globally2. Here, we report on average 19 times as many suspected illegal fishing vessels per month in 2022 (n = 19) compared with 2010 to 2020 (n = 1) in an Indian Ocean MPA. Although illegal fishing has been a pervasive problem, the current spike in Indian vessels targeting a broad trophic diversity of reef-associated species is of particular concern and we suggest such changes in illegal activity in MPAs globally may persist over long timescales unless management is broad and adaptive to individual context. When considering potential solutions, widespread adoption of technology, such as remote surveillance of vessels, can mitigate illegal activities but remains unfeasible for many MPAs globally due to financial and political barriers. Instead, we suggest broader approaches, including a renewed focus on regional approaches to combating illegal fishing, formal bilateral agreements between competent authorities in relevant countries and an increase in community-based work.

Contrasting ecological information content in whaling archives with modern cetacean surveys for conservation planning and identification of historical distribution changes.

Many species are restricted to a marginal or suboptimal fraction of their historical range due to anthropogenic impacts, making it hard to interpret their ecological preferences from modern-day data alone. However, inferring past ecological states is limited by the availability of robust data and biases in historical archives, posing a challenge for policy makers . To highlight how historical records can be used to understand the ecological requirements of threatened species and inform conservation, we investigated sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) distribution in the Western Indian Ocean. We assessed differences in information content and habitat suitability predictions based on whale occurrence data from Yankee whaling logs (1792-1912) and from modern cetacean surveys (1995-2020). We built maximum entropy habitat suitability models containing static (bathymetry-derived) variables to compare models comprising historical-only and modern-only data. Using both historical and modern habitat suitability predictions  we assessed marine protected area (MPA) placement by contrasting suitability in- and outside MPAs. The historical model predicted high habitat suitability in shelf and coastal regions near continents and islands, whereas the modern model predicted a less coastal distribution with high habitat suitability more restricted to areas of steep topography. The proportion of high habitat suitability inside versus outside MPAs was higher when applying the historical predictions than the modern predictions, suggesting that different marine spatial planning optimums can be reached from either data sources. Moreover, differences in relative habitat suitability predictions between eras were consistent with the historical depletion of sperm whales from coastal regions, which were easily accessed and targeted by whalers, resulting in a modern distribution limited more to steep continental margins and remote oceanic ridges. The use of historical data can provide important new insights and, through cautious interpretation, inform conservation planning and policy, for example, by identifying refugee species and regions of anticipated population recovery.

Contrastes del contenido de información ecológica entre los archivos de la caza de ballenas y los censos actuales de cetáceos para la planeación de la conservación y la identificación de cambios en la distribución histórica Resumen Muchas especies están restringidas a una fracción marginal o subóptima de su área de distribución histórica debido a impactos antropogénicos. Esto dificulta interpretar sus preferencias ecológicas con sólo usar los datos actuales. Sin embargo, la inferencia de estados ecológicos pasados está limitada a la disponibilidad de datos sólidos y a los sesgos de los archivos históricos, lo que plantea un reto para la conservación y los responsables de las políticas. Analizamos la distribución del cachalote (Physeter macrocephalus) en el Océano Índico occidental para resaltar cómo pueden utilizarse los registros históricos para comprender los requisitos ecológicos de las especies amenazadas y direccionar su conservación. Evaluamos las diferencias en el contenido de la información y las predicciones de idoneidad del hábitat basadas en los datos de presencia de ballenas de los registros balleneros Yanquis (1792-1912) y de los estudios actuales sobre cetáceos (1995-2020). Construimos modelos de idoneidad de hábitat con máxima entropía que incluían variables estáticas (derivadas de la batimetría) para comparar los modelos que abarcan datos históricos y actuales. Evaluamos la ubicación de las áreas marinas protegidas (AMP) contrastando las predicciones dentro y fuera de ellas con los modelos históricos y actuales de la idoneidad del hábitat. El modelo histórico predijo una alta idoneidad del hábitat en las regiones costeras y de la plataforma continental cercanas a los continentes e islas, mientras que el modelo moderno predijo una distribución menos costera con una alta idoneidad del hábitat más restringida a las zonas de topografía escarpada. La proporción de hábitats de alta idoneidad dentro y fuera de las AMP fue mayor con la aplicación de las predicciones históricas que con la de las modernas, lo que sugiere que se pueden alcanzar diferentes niveles óptimos de ordenación del espacio marino a partir de ambas fuentes de datos. Además, las diferencias entre los periodos en las predicciones relacionadas con la idoneidad del hábitat fueron coherentes con la reducción histórica de los cachalotes en las regiones costeras, las cuales eran fácilmente accesibles para los balleneros, lo que resultó en una distribución actual más limitada a los márgenes continentales escarpados y a las crestas oceánicas remotas. El uso de datos históricos puede aportar nuevos e importantes conocimientos e informar, mediante una interpretación prudente, a la planificación y la política de conservación; por ejemplo, con la identificación de especies refugiadas y regiones de recuperación poblacional.

Divergent Forms of Pyroplastic: Lessons Learned from the M/V X-Press Pearl Ship Fire.

In late May 2021, the M/V X-Press Pearl container ship caught fire while anchored 18 km off the coast of Colombo, Sri Lanka and spilled upward of 70 billion pieces of plastic or "nurdles" (∼1680 tons), littering the country's coastline. Exposure to combustion, heat, chemicals, and petroleum products led to an apparent continuum of changes from no obvious effects to pieces consistent with previous reports of melted and burned plastic (pyroplastic) found on beaches. At the middle of this continuum, nurdles were discolored but appeared to retain their prefire morphology, resembling nurdles that had been weathered in the environment. We performed a detailed investigation of the physical and surface properties of discolored nurdles collected on a beach 5 days after the ship caught fire and within 24 h of their arrival onshore. The color was the most striking trait of the plastic: white for nurdles with minimal alteration from the accident, orange for nurdles containing antioxidant degradation products formed by exposure to heat, and gray for partially combusted nurdles. Our color analyses indicate that this fraction of the plastic released from the ship was not a continuum but instead diverged into distinct groups. Fire left the gray nurdles scorched, with entrained particles and pools of melted plastic, and covered in soot, representing partial pyroplastics, a new subtype of pyroplastic. Cross sections showed that the heat- and fire-induced changes were superficial, leaving the surfaces more hydrophilic but the interior relatively untouched. These results provide timely and actionable information to responders to reevaluate cleanup end points, monitor the recurrence of these spilled nurdles, gauge short- and long-term effects of the spilled nurdles to the local ecosystem, and manage the recovery of the spill. These findings underscore partially combusted plastic (pyroplastic) as a type of plastic pollution that has yet to be fully explored despite the frequency at which plastic is burned globally.

The M/V X-Press Pearl Nurdle Spill: Contamination of Burnt Plastic and Unburnt Nurdles along Sri Lanka's Beaches.

In May 2021, the M/V X-Press Pearl cargo ship caught fire 18 km off the west coast of Sri Lanka and spilled ∼1680 tons of spherical pieces of plastic or "nurdles" (∼5 mm; white in color). Nurdles are the preproduction plastic used to manufacture a wide range of end products. Exposure to combustion, heat, and chemicals led to agglomeration, fragmentation, charring, and chemical modification of the plastic, creating an unprecedented complex spill of visibly burnt plastic and unburnt nurdles. These pieces span a continuum of colors, shapes, sizes, and densities with high variability that could impact cleanup efforts, alter transport in the ocean, and potentially affect wildlife. Visibly burnt plastic was 3-fold more chemically complex than visibly unburnt nurdles. This added chemical complexity included combustion-derived polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. A portion of the burnt material contained petroleum-derived biomarkers, indicating that it encountered some fossil-fuel products during the spill. The findings of this research highlight the added complexity caused by the fire and subsequent burning of plastic for cleanup operations, monitoring, and damage assessment and provides recommendations to further understand and combat the impacts of this and future spills.

Marine protected areas in Sri Lanka: a review.

Despite the popularity of marine protected areas (MPAs) as a management tool, increasing evidence shows that many fail to achieve conservation objectives. Although several MPAs exist in Sri Lanka, most are not managed, and resource extraction and habitat degradation continue unabated. At present, the declaration and management of MPAs is carried out without adequate consideration of the ecology, socioeconomic realities, or long-term management sustainability. Managers have focused more toward the creation of new legislation and protected areas rather than ensuring the implementation of existing regulations and management of existing protected areas. Poor coordination and a lack of serious political will have also hindered successful resource management. As in other developing countries, MPA managers have to contend with coastal communities that are directly dependant on marine resources for their subsistence. This often makes it unfeasible to exclude resource users, and MPAs have failed to attract necessary government support because many politicians are partial toward the immediate needs of local communities for both economic and political reasons. A more integrated approach, and decisions based on the analysis of all relevant criteria combined with a concerted and genuine effort toward implementing strategies and achieving predetermined targets, is needed for effective management of MPAs and the sustainable use of marine resources in Sri Lanka.