The amount of micro plastic pollution in waters around the Maldives a global tourist destination known for its beautiful coastline is amongst the highest in the world and has the potential to severely impact marine life in shallow reefs and threaten the livelihoods of island communities Microplastics are pieces of plastic waste that measure less than 5 millimetres long and due to their often microscopic size are considered invisible water pollutants Small pieces of plastic can break down over time from plastic bottles Marine scientists from Flinders University in Australia recorded the levels of plastic pollution in sand across 22 sites off the coast of Naifaru the most populous island in Lhaviyani Atoll to determine how much microplastic is present around the island Microplastic distribution was found to be ubiquitous in the marine environment with the results published in Science of the Total Environment journal Flinders University Honours student and lead researcher Toby Patti says micro plastics are highly concentrated in waters around Naifaru "The concentration of microplastics found on Naifaru in the Maldives (55 -1127.5 microplastics/kg) was greater than those previously found on a highly populated site at Tamil Nadu and was a similar concentration to that found on inhabited and uninhabited islands elsewhere in the Maldives (197 -822 particles/kg)." "The majority of micro plastics found in our study were less than 0.4mm in width so our results raise concerns about the potential for microplastic ingestion by marine organisms in the shallow coral reef system The accumulation of microplastics is a serious concern for the ecosystem and the local community living off of these marine resources and can have a negative impact on human health." The high levels of microplastics could have been transported by ocean currents from neighbouring countries in the Indian Ocean like India as well as from Maldivian land reclamation policies Professor Karen Burke Da Silva says notorious 'rubbish islands' used as landfill sites are also contributing to the high concentration of microplastic found around the island "Current waste management practices in the Maldives cannot keep up with population growth and the pace of development The small island nation encounters several challenges regarding waste management systems and has seen a 58% increase of waste generated per capita on local islands in the last decade," says Professor Burke Da Silva "Without a significant increase in waste reduction and rapid improvements in waste management small island communities will continue to generate high levels of microplastic pollution in marine environments with potential to negatively impact the health of the ecosystem 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141263 are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system Copyright © 2025 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) The dates displayed for an article provide information on when various publication milestones were reached at the journal that has published the article activities on preceding journals at which the article was previously under consideration are not shown (for instance submission All content on this site: Copyright © 2025 Elsevier B.V. the Maldives Transport and Contracting Company Plc (MTCC) said in its latest announcement The main components of the Naifaru harbor project The project was assigned to MTCC by Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure and was fully funded by the Government of Maldives Daily news and in-depth stories in your inbox