BE2 - Marine Litter on the Seafloor

Seafloor litter is monitored in line with the OSPAR CEMP guidelines.  Marine litter floats, sinks or gets cast on beaches. It is estimated that a large amount of the litter eventually sinks to the sea floor. The monitoring programme is conducted by utilising existing fisheries and environmental trawl surveys in line with guidance of the MSFD Technical Expert Group on Marine Litter ( http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC83985/lb-na-26113-en-n.pdf ).  The existing surveys use bottom trawls to collect biota samples near the seafloor and capture benthic macrolitter as a by-product.  

Within the OSPAR region most fish trawl surveys are coordinated by ICES expert groups. The survey data are covering the Baltic Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat, North Sea, English Channel, Celtic Sea, Irish Sea, Bay of Biscay and the eastern Atlantic from the Shetlands to Gibraltar. DATRAS (the Database of Trawl Surveys) has been developed to collate and document the survey data, assure data quality, standardise data formats and calculations, and ease data handling and availability. Those existing frameworks and databases have been adapted by the ICES Data Centre to accommodate OSPAR seafloor litter data.

For each survey, the following information was recorded: the definition and specification of the survey, the positions of stop and start of each trawl and its technical specification e.g. wing spread, mesh size of net, cod end and blinders. After each tow, the catch was deposited in the fish pound or hopper before being sorted, then all litter items were manually picked from the entire net, including ground ropes, fishing lines, hopper and cod end and classified. The classification system, is composed of six main categories of litter (Plastic, Metal, Rubber, Glass, Natural and Miscellaneous), each divided into sub-categories (39 in total).

This OSPAR guideline is of relevance to MSFD D10 Criteria 1. Current knowledge related to the distribution of marine litter on the seafloor, its degradation and fate, its potentially harmful biological, physical and chemical impacts on marine life and habitats and the effectiveness of future measures is insufficient. To understand this part of the marine litter issue better information is required on both spatial and temporal differences in marine litter on the seafloor.

Which other countries are involved in practical implementation of this monitoring programme, and what is the degree of cooperation.

[Monitoring Purpose]