Vlachogianni marine%20litter%20assessment%20in%20the%20adriatic

PHOTO BY: Boštjan Mljač

Marine litter (macro & micro) assessment in the Adriatic Sea: Paving the way for harmonized monitoring to facilitate effective decision making Thomais Vlachogianni | Phd Env Chem MIO-ECSDE Programme Officer DeFishGear WP4 Leader Member of the MSFD TSG 10 Member of the CORMON Group

Overarching aim To facilitate the efforts of policy makers and stakeholders in effectively dealing with the issue of marine litter in the Adriatic MacroRegion.

Objectives  To provide a comprehensive, coherent and transparent characterization and analysis of the marine litter problem (including socio-economic aspects) in the Adriatic;  To pave the way for the adoption of a coordinated and harmonized approach in terms of marine litter monitoring;  To provide recommendations related to policy options in meeting regional and national objectives regarding marine litter (MSFD, ECAP);  To identify gaps and needs as a basis for setting priorities for action in terms of addressing the issue of marine litter effectively and ensuring the sustainable management and use of the marine environment and coastal zones.

Key policy frameworks Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)

WP4 through a transparent, coherent synthesis of natural and social science related info/data and stakeholder input, will contribute to the development of the knowledge basis for appropriate marine and coastal zone planning to reduce the impacts of litter-generating economic activities in the region

Regional Plan on Marine Litter Management in the Med

WP4 activities and outputs lie at the heart of the key principles of the:

Ecosystem Approach (ECAP)

Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP)

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)

WP4 planned activities in a nutshell 4.3

4.4 4.1

Defining an assessment and monitoring strategy for marine litter in the Adriatic

Assessment of economic impacts of marine litter 4.2

Pilot surveys to assess marine litter in the Adriatic

Assessment of marine litter in the different marine compartments

Nov Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov Jan Mar May Jul Sep Nov Jan Mar 2013 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2015 2016 2016

@ Steve Spring/Marine Photobank

The building blocks of the assessment & monitoring strategy:  The “Guidance Document on Monitoring of Marine Litter in European Seas”, developed in 2013 by the EU MSFD Technical Sub-Group on Marine Litter.  The draft Monitoring Guidance Document on Ecological Objective 10: Marine Litter, prepared by UNEP/MAP MEDPOL in April 2014.

Developing the assessment & monitoring strategy for marine litter in the Adriatic | decisive step The DeFishGear Working Group Meeting (Athens, 12 May 2014), which brought together ~ 40 participants from the IPA eligible countries, the EC, international organizations, NGOs and other stakeholders to express their views on the proposed elements of the monitoring and assessment strategy, to discuss good practices and to exchange their experiences on marine litter monitoring.

Ultimately, this meeting will contribute to the establishment of a Regional Network of Experts on marine litter in the Adriatic MacroRegion

Key elements of the proposed strategy General Marine Litter Monitoring Approach, addressing key aspects related to the MSFD and the ECAP requirements

• • • •

Monitoring of beach litter, floating litter, benthic litter, litter in biota and microplastics

• Survey design (selection of survey sites, number of sites, etc.)

• Sampling methodology/protocol • Sample processing methodology • Data analysis • Key considerations

Aim & objectives of monitoring Quality assessment & control approach Site selection strategy Data handling & reporting

Overview of selected monitoring protocols to be applied with the scope of the DeFishGear project for macro-litter Environ. matrice

Method/ protocol

Level of maturity

Technical requir.

Expertise needed

Beach

Visual/ collection

HIGH

LOW

LOW/ MEDIUM

Floating

Visual

HIGH

LOW

LOW/ MEDIUM

Sea-floor

Diving

MEDIUM

MEDIUM

MEDIUM

Sea-floor

Bottom-trawling

MEDIUM/ HIGH

LOW/ MEDIUM

LOW/ MEDIUM

Biota

Fish (ingestion)

LOW

MEDIUM/ HIGH

MEDIUM/ HIGH

Biota

Turtles (ingestion)

MEDIUM/ LOW

LOW

MEDIUM

Biota

Entanglement (Beached animals)

LOW

LOW

MEDIUM

Modeling marine debris movement and transport in the Adriatic sea The numerical methodology relies on a three-stage process: (1)

(2)

(3)

• The input data of relevant Oceanographic and Atmospheric Eulerian models are prepared;

• The outputs of the Adriatic Forecasting System and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts models are utilized as input to the Lagrangian model in order to generate the trajectories and the distribution patterns of the marine litter

• The hazard-mapping algorithm is employed to obtain the hotspots of the marine litter in the Adriatic Sea.

Monitoring of beach litter

      

Number of sites Albania (2) Bosnia & Herzegovina (2) Croatia (3) Italy (10+3) Greece (3+5) Montenegro (2) Slovenia (2)

Implementing the assessment & monitoring strategy in a consistent way | key activities/tools

@ Varvara Vasilaki

Understanding of the socio-economic impacts of marine litter in the Adriatic sea Understanding of the full economic significance of marine litter still remains relatively limited‌ ‌.however, it is well known that every year, marine litter results in tremendous economic costs and significant losses for the economic sectors involved but also for individual enterprises, communities and persons.

Overview of socio - economic impacts of marine litter in the Adriatic sea

Direct

• • • •

Impact on resources (damage or repair); Impacts on marine biota (death, injuries, etc.)

Impact on fishing activities; Clean-up costs (the most urgent investment).

Indirect

• Social impacts such as reduced recreational opportunities, public health and safety impacts.

Intangible

• Inhibition of the proper functioning of marine ecosystems; • Damage in aesthetic values.

The DeFishGear assessment of socio - economic impacts of marine litter in the Adriatic sea will:

Feed into: the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian MacroRegion aiming to promote sustainable economic and social prosperity in the Region, by improving its attractiveness, competitiveness and connectivity, while at the same time preserving the environment and ensuring healthy, balanced marine and coastal ecosystems (4 key pillars: Marine and Maritime Growth/Blue Growth; Connecting the Region; Environmental quality; and Sustainable Tourism)

Joining forces to combat marine litter | building synergies with other key initiatives in the region

EXPECTED RESULTS  Increased knowledge on occurrence, amounts and sources of marine litter in the Adriatic;  Increased knowledge on marine litter hotspots in the Adriatic;  Increased knowledge on socio-ecomomic impacts of marine liter in the Adriatic;  Strengthened involvement and participation of regional marine litter experts in the development of the assessment methodology and results and enhanced ownership of the assessment outcomes;  Enhanced capacities to perform litter monitoring at regional level;  Strengthened & reinforced science-policy interface to support the integration of sound science into policy and decision making in effectively tackling marine litter;  Improved management of human activities generating marine litter and strengthened implementation of ICZM, ECAP and MSP, as well as the MSFD (including the recently adopted Regional Plan on Marine Litter Management in the Mediterranean).

WP4 Team

MIO-ECSDE (FB12) Lead Partner

National Institute of Chemistry, Slovenia (LB) ISPRA ARPA Emilio-Romagna (FB4) (FB1) Institute for Water of the Republic of Slovenia (FB5) Institute for Oceanography & Fisheries, Croatia (FB7) Hydro-Engineering Institute, BiH University of Montenegro, Institute of marine biology (FB9) Agricultural University of Tirana, Laboratory of Fisheries and Aquaculture (FB10) Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Greece (FB13) Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (FB15)

PHOTO BY: Boštjan Mljač

Thank you!

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vlachogianni@mio-ecsde.org www.mio-ecsde.org

Name Surname organization name.surname@email.com WWW.DEFISHGEAR.NET

PHOTO BY: Boštjan Mljač