A study by scientists from the University of Plymouth has identified one atypical mode of spread.
The authors compared different types of syntheticropes that are commonly used in the marine industry. They took ropes with different piles, levels of wear and material to estimate how much microplastic the different types produced.
The results show that new ropes and those thathave already worked for a year, they can throw about 20 fragments of microplastics into the ocean for each meter. But as the rope ages, the microplastic becomes detached more and more easily: ropes that have served for more than two years dropped on average about 720 fragments per meter, and those that were ten years old or more - 760 fragments per meter.
The length of the rope during fishing can reach 220 m, depending on the type of vessel and the depth of the ocean.
Also, the authors modeled how much microplasticfalls into the ocean, and a constant force is applied to the rope, for example, to pull the boat out into the water. It turned out that if the rope is constantly pulled, then the microplastic is released more. As a result, 50 m of a new rope is produced from 700 to 2,000 pieces, and a similar length of an already used rope can separate up to 40 thousand fragments.
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