Lost cephalopods recreational fishing lures (EGIs) as marine litter: Composition, persistence, and microplastic release

Recreational fishing is a growing source of marine litter, yet its contribution to plastic pollution remains underexplored. In the Mediterranean Sea, Eging—a popular recreational technique for catching cephalopods—relies on specialized artificial lures (EGIs) composed of multiple materials, including polymers, metals, and pigments. Once lost, these lures can persist in the marine environment, fragmenting into microplastics and potentially releasing chemical additives. This study reports the first survey of EGIs lost, in the north-eastern Sicilian coast (Strait of Messina, Central Mediterranean Sea), identifying collected lures (546 EGIs sampled from six sites) using a handheld Raman spectrometer and a complementary micro NIR spectrometer for the characterization of textile coatings, polymeric bodies and lure parts. Polymer identification was carried out on a representative subset of 30 lures and 4 detached textile fragments, selected to encompass the observed morphological and chromatic variability. Guided by an a priori hypothesis based on independent sources, we tested EGI composition on a representative subset through spectroscopic investigations and found a dominant pattern—polystyrene in bodies, polyethylene terephthalate in coatings, and epoxy in eyes—with signature distribution of 48.4 % PET-like, 30.2 % PS-like, and 21.4 % intermediate/mixed. Spectral classification using cosine similarity distinguished PET-like, PS-like, and intermediate/mixed signatures, reflecting manufacturing variability and environmental alteration. As stated by literature, both PS and PET exhibit high resistance to biodegradation, fragmenting over time into persistent microplastics (MPs) capable of adsorbing pollutants and entering marine food webs. The widespread presence of these lost lures, yet often overlooked, highlights the need to obtain further information on degradation kinetics, leaching assays, chemical additives composition, and ecotoxicological effects to fully understand their toxicity and their action as long-term contaminants sources, also calling for the adoption of active measures to mitigate recreational fishing impacts.