Fishing gear dominates marine litter in the Wetlands Reserve in Al Wusta Governorate, Oman

The Wetlands Reserve in Al Wusta Governorate on the Arabian Sea is important for internationally migrating birds and local wildlife, but data on marine litter in the reserve, and wider region, are rare. Seven beaches around the reserve were surveyed for litter in February 2020. Abundance and weight of litter were categorised along 100 m transects. Abundance ranged from 0.1 to 1.4 items m−2 and weight ranged from 3.2 to 170.4 g m−2. Plastic was the dominant material in abundance (84.4–97.7%) and weight (71.3–99.3%). Top categories in abundance and weight were fisheries-related, water bottles and caps, and food packaging. Fisheries-related litter comprised 19.6–36.7% of all in abundance, but 41.4–94.4% in weight. The high proportion of fisheries-related litter (by weight) indicates that providing practical disposal facilities for unwanted and broken fishing gear would substantially reduce the impact of litter on this vital wetlands reserve.