The build-up of plastic debris in coastal zones is severe and different in character from open-sea plastic pollution, with different impacts on women's near-shore fishing than on open-ocean fishing by men. Loss of economic activities, damage to well-being, and mental health aspects of the impacts of degraded environments are all gender-differentiated and likely to be more intense for women in near-shore fisheries than for men in fisheries located offshore. However, virtually no research or data exist on such differences.