Paper Title
Attribution And Distribution Of Microplastic Pollution In Southern South China Sea

Abstract
Micro plastics have been a significant concern towards the marine environment as they are known to be pollutants that are pervasive, persistent, and could disrupt the health of an ocean. This research was conducted to study the attribution and distribution of micro plastics in the southern South China Sea. A revised sampling procedure for the collection and analysis of surface seawater and beach sediments were conducted from different oceanographic location which includes, coastal waters, around the islands, and offshore region. Recovered micro plastics from the respective sampling islands were classified according to the weight, shapes, and polymer types by using Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometry. Results showed that the abundance of micro plastic particles recovered were 0.1567 g/m2 respectively. Polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), and cellophane were identified and present most commonly in the study area. PE and PP constitute the highest abundance with 62 % and 26 % respectively. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to observe the morphological features of the microplastics collected. Some of the observed samples proved that there were microorganisms attached to the microplastics such as diatoms and invertebrates. This indicates that microplastics have created a new pelagic home for microorganisms and invertebrates. The presence of microplastics in both surface seawater and beach sediments is likely due to on-going irresponsible management of waste disposal from recreational activities, industries, and discharge from shipping