1. 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

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

3. 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.

4. Key policy frameworks 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 WP4 activities and outputs lie at the heart of the key principles of the: Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) Integrated Coastal Zone Managemen t (ICZM) Ecosystem Approach (ECAP) Regional Plan on Marine Litter Managemen t in the Med Adriatic- Ionian strategy

5. WP4 activities in a nutshell Nov 2013 Jan 2014 Mar 2014 May 2014 Jul 2014 Sep 2014 Nov 2014 Jan 2015 Mar 2015 May 2015 Jul 2015 Sep 2015 Nov 2015 Jan 2016 Mar 2016 Defining an assessment and monitoring strategy for marine litter in the Adriatic Pilot surveys to assess marine litter in the Adriatic Assessment of marine litter in the different marine compartments Assessment of economic impacts of marine litter 4.1 4.4 4.2 4.3

6. 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.

7. 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. Forerunner of the Regional Network of Experts on marine litter in the Adriatic MacroRegion

8. Overview of selected monitoring protocols applied within the scope of the DeFishGear project for macro-litter Environ. matrice Method/ protocol Level of maturity Technical requir. Expertise needed Beach Visual/ collection HIGHLOW LOW/ MEDIUM FloatingVisualHIGHLOW LOW/ MEDIUM Sea-floorDivingMEDIUM Sea-floorBottom-trawling MEDIUM/ HIGH LOW/ MEDIUM LOW/ MEDIUM Biota Fish (ingestion) LOW MEDIUM/ HIGH MEDIUM/ HIGH Biota Turtles (ingestion) MEDIUM/ LOW MEDIUM Biota Entanglement (Beached animals) LOW MEDIUM

9. Task 4.1.3

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

11. Pilot marine litter surveys | indicative map

12. That’s not all… Pilot surveys in a harmonized way Modeling marine debris movement and transport in the Adriatic sea Making data accessible via a GIS database Assessing the socio-economic implications Building synergies and ensuring cross- fertilization

13. 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).

14. Overcoming hindrances that hamper down the solutions to marine litter TOGETHER! Some of these are: the limited and fragmented understanding of the problem due to the lack of accurate, coherent, reliable and comparable scientific data; the misconceptions and misunderstandings related to possible solutions, i.e. the case of bio-degradable or bio-based plastics, or end-of-pipe solutions like cleanups; the reluctance of countries to commit themselves to reaching ambitious targets via comprehensive programmes of measures; the fact that marine litter is often considered as someone else’s problem; the poor exploitation of the full potential that marine litter initiatives and projects render for capitalization, replication and collective learning.

15. Name Surname organization name.surname@email.com WWW.DEFISHGEAR.NET PHOTO BY: Boštjan Mljač Thank you! vlachogianni@mio-ecsde.org www.mio-ecsde.org www.mio-ecsde.org Follow our progress on: http://www.defishgear.net http://www.defishgear.net/https://www. facebook.com/defishgear https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_ 9waB-DfrK0vz2ZkNdXrpA Follow our progress on: http://www.defishgear.net http://www.defishgear.net/https://www. facebook.com/defishgear https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_ 9waB-DfrK0vz2ZkNdXrpA