International Journal of Marine Science, 2025, Vol.15, No.5, 245-254 http://www.aquapublisher.com/index.php/ijms 245 Review Article Open Access Strategies for Monitoring and Reducing Microplastic Pollution in Oceans Wenzhong Huang1 , Xuelian Jiang2 1 Biomass Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resouces, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China 2 Institute of Life Science, Jiyang College of Zhejiang A&F University, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China Corresponding author: wenzhong.huang@hitar.org International Journal of Marine Science, 2025, Vol.15, No.5, doi: 10.5376/ijms.2025.15.0022 Received: 30 Jun., 2025 Accepted: 01 Sep., 2025 Published: 17 Sep., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Huang and Jiang, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Huang W.Z., and Jiang X.L., 2025, Strategies for monitoring and reducing microplastic pollution in oceans, International Journal of Marine Science, 15(5): 245-254 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2025.15.0022) Abstract Microplastics have become an emerging pollutant in the global marine environment and have attracted widespread attention. Based on the research progress at home and abroad in the past five years, this study systematically reviews the source, distribution, ecological environment and health impact of marine microplastic pollution, and discusses monitoring and governance strategies. The study found that microplastic particles produced by the decomposition of plastic waste are widely present in the ocean, posing a potential threat to plankton, benthic organisms, and human health of microplastics ingested through the food chain. In response to this global threat, countries and international organizations have successively carried out microplastic monitoring projects, developed a series of monitoring technologies, and formulated policies and regulations to reduce plastic waste emissions. At the engineering and technical level, the exploration of recycling and new cleaning technologies has made continuous progress. At the same time, public participation and educational publicity have played an important role in the control of plastic pollution. Therefore, formulating comprehensive strategies, monitoring, controlling and reducing microplastic pollution has become a key issue in achieving sustainable development of the marine ecological environment. Keywords Microplastics; Monitoring technology; Marine pollution; Ecological impact; Governance strategy 1 Introduction Plastic products are widely used for their durability and low cost, but a large amount of waste plastics continue to accumulate in the environment and break into microplastics with a size of less than 5 mm. Research shows that around millions of tons of plastic waste enter the ocean every year around the world, with microplastic particles dominating in quantity (Thanigaivel et al., 2025). Microplastics have been widely detected in oceans from the equator to the poles and penetrate deep into the deepest part of the ocean, becoming a global environmental threat (Straffella et al., 2020). Due to its small size and difficulty in degradation, microplastics can spread over long distances and remain in the environment for a long time, posing potential harm to marine ecosystems and human health. Microplastics in the ocean can be divided into two categories: primary microplastics and secondary microplastics. Primary microplastics refer to plastic particles that are small in size during production, such as cosmetic scrub particles, plastic microbeads in detergents and plastic particles raw materials, etc.; secondary microplastics are made of larger plastic waste being broken in the environment by physical, chemical and biological actions (Xiao et al., 2024). In the environment, these microplastics are usually fragmented, fibrous, film-like or granular, with different colors and can be mistaken for food and enter the organism. Faced with the increasingly severe pollution of marine microplastics, this study sorts out the research results in this field in recent years, analyzes the distribution patterns and migration mechanisms of microplastics in the ocean, clarifies its impact path on marine ecosystems and human health, and summarizes and evaluates existing monitoring technologies and governance strategies. Through a comprehensive review analysis, we hope to provide readers with a systematic understanding of the problem of marine microplastic pollution. The significance of this study is to provide theoretical support and decision-making reference for the scientific governance of marine microplastic pollution, and to contribute academic wisdom and practical solutions to the protection of marine ecological environment and human health.
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