4.2. Anthropogenic litter and potential for ecological effects on
artificial reefs
Given that no litter removal strategies are currently applied to
the coastal infrastructures surveyed, it is expected that artificial
breakwaters (i.e. granite boulders) enhance residence time of most
AL material accumulating on them. Especially, we found that
different litter elements were retained between boulders and/or
inside the cavities (about 50e100 cm wide) between the contact
surfaces of boulders on artificial breakwaters. Neither strong wave
action during incoming high tide nor wind action seemed to
remove materials from this particular habitat over the study period
(MAA, personal observations). However, high waves actions could
remove AL material from breakwaters to other habitats thus