Marine and maritime - Research - European Commission

18 January 2011 - Marine litter – a new dedicated webpage

Cleaning Europe's
marine environment
© Peter Gutierrez

The European Commission's Environment Directorate-General has launched a new website on 'Marine Pollution Awareness'.

Marine litter currently represents a vast and growing threat to the marine and coastal environments. Plastic waste, for example, eventually enters the food chain as animals confuse debris with food and may cause serious health problems.

The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), adopted in June 2008, aims at achieving 'good environmental status' (GES) of all marine waters of the European Union by 2020. It identifies marine litter as one of eleven chief pressures on the marine environment.

The new website provides direct access to presentations and videos from a major workshop on marine litter that took place on 8 November 2010 in Brussels.

It also features two very interesting reports:

• JRC/ICES report
  The International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) provide scientific support to the Commission.
• GESAMP report
  The Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP) held its International Workshop on Microplastic particles as a vector in transporting persistent, bioaccumulating and toxic substances in the ocean at UNESCO-IOC in Paris in June 2010. The GESAMP advises sponsoring agencies on ‘new and emerging issues’ in relation to the state of the marine environment.