Use of the results of the SPICE project on marine litter Marta - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Use of the results

• f the SPICE

project on marine litter

Marta Ruiz HELCOM Secretariat

HOLAS II 8-2017 Helsinki, Finland, 28-29 November 2017

Microlitter

 Report on information collected on microlitter. It includes a map showing where data is available and from where data is expected in the future, covering water column & water surface, seafloor sediment and strandline  Amend the text to refer to the report and emphasise that research and pilot monitoring is very active at the moment in several countries and that it can be expected that after 1-2 years significantly more data will be available for assessing microlitter and microplastics in Baltic Sea

• environment. However, before this, there are several issues which need to

be solved. Most importantly methods for both sampling and analyses must be harmonized and targeted for Baltic Sea specifically.

Litter on the seafloor

Report on analysis of seafloor litter data from BITS trawling hauls

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 DK 144 140 90 112 96 EE 9 10 DE 51 104 115 107 118 LV 14 44 LT 4 8 PO 31 100 SE 82 75 74 78 78

Litter on the seafloor

• Data from 1599 hauls were used. The data set contained samples from 9 sub

regions.

• Sampling frequency has increased over the years, from 257 reported hauls in 2012

to 433 hauls in 2016.

• 42% of the hauls contained no items.
• The average total number of items overall years was 58.9± 20.9 items per km2

(Average ± 95 confidence interval). The average total weight of items overall years was 85.3±65.2 kg per km2 (Average ± 95% confidence interval).

• There is no statistically significant trend of decreasing number of items per unit
• area. However, this trend should be interpreted with caution, as the geographical

scope of trawl hauls has changed during the period with the addition of hauls from the Gdansk Basin and the Northern Baltic Proper in 2015-2016. There is no statistically significant trend in the weight of items.

• The average number of items differed significantly among sub-basins, with the

Western Gotland Basin having significantly higher numbers than other basins.

Litter on the seafloor

• For weights, the tows from the Northern Baltic proper were significantly higher than

hauls from all other sub-regions. However, this analysis is based on the contents of

• nly 9 hauls, and must therefore be interpreted with caution. There were no

statistically significant differences among other sub-regions.

• The different sub regions showed different trends. Arkona basin and Eastern

Gotland basin show signs of a decreasing trend, but these trends are not statistically

• significant. Kiel Bay has a statistically significant increasing trend. Other areas show

no clear tendencies of trends.

• Items made from natural materials is most common both in terms of number of

items (44.6%) and in terms of weight (56.6%). Plastic is the second most common material category (30.6% of number of items, 15.7% of the weight).

• The composition of litter differed significantly among sub-regions. While items

made from natural materials dominated in most regions, plastic items dominated in hauls from the Northern Baltic proper and the Gdansk basin, and metal items dominated in the Kiel bay.

Litter on the seafloor

Proportion (%) of material categories in hauls in different sub regions (summed

• verall years). No data on the number of items in different categories was

available from hauls in the Great belt sub region.

Litter on the seafloor

The 15 most common types of items (in terms of number and weight) found in trawl hauls for all 9 sub-regions combined.

Beach litter

 Report on the analysis of compiled data

• n beach litter in the Baltic Sea area

 Calculations done by type of beach and material for: (i) 2012-2016: DE, EE, FI, LV, LI and SE started beach monitoring in 2012 (ii) 2015-2016: since 2015 monitoring is carried out in all countries (except LI and RU) and since this year, the network of monitoring stations has expanded

Country Monitoring period N. monitoring sites Frequency monitoring per year ML items categorization DK 2015 - 2016 3 3(4) TG ML Master list EE 2012 - 2016 10 3 MARLIN/ UNEP/IOC FI 2012 - 2016 12 3 MARLIN/ UNEP DE 2012 - 2016 26 4 OSPAR, with slight adaptations LV 2012 - 2016 42 1 MARLIN/ UNEP LT 2012 - 2013 4 4 PO 2015 - 2016 15 4 TG ML Master list SE 2012 - 2016 10 3 MARLIN/ UNEP

Beach litter

Period 2012-2016

Beach litter

Period 2015-2016

Beach litter

Regional top litter items by type of beach

Beach litter

NEW: Sub-regional top litter items

Beach litter

NEW: Sub-regional top litter items-> Highlights

• Many of the items are related to eating, drinking and smoking

activities

• Pieces of plastic of different size and plastic bags are found at all sub-

basin top litter item lists

• Balloons and balloon related items can be found at 60% of sub-basin

top litter item -lists

• Industrial packaging related items such as sheeting, strapping bands

and masking tape can be found at 73% of all sub-basins.

• Derelict fishing gear can be found within the Eastern Gotland Bay,

Gdansk Bay and Kiel Bay top litter item -lists.

• The proportion of how much the top litter item –list counts of the total

litter items varies from 64,92 to 100 %. The average proportion is 85,42 %.

Proposed way forward

The Secretariat to provide a draft revised text of the marine litter section in update of ‘State of the Baltic Sea report, June 2017’ by 12 December 2017 to the HELCOM EN-Marine Litter and State & Conservation contacts for technical evaluation and quality assurance

• f the proposal by 1 February 2018

Name Surname 11/29/2017 16

Thank you!