MSFD Marine Litter Descriptor 10

1. MSFD Marine Litter Descriptor 10 EMODNET Chemistry module kick-off Georg Hanke, EC JRC ,17.5.2017 georg.hanke@ec.europa.eu

2. Marine Litter reduction needs • Wide societal agreement • EU Policy commitments • MSFD implementation • EU Plastics Strategy • RSCs Regional Action Plans • International collaboration: G7/20, Rio+20, SDG 14 • Circular Economy: 30 % aspirational headline target for beach litter and fishing gear

3. MSFD Descriptor 10:“Properties and quantities of marine litter do not cause harm to the coastal and marine environment” MSFD 2008 Commission Decision on GES 2010 Initial Assessment 2012 Monitoring Plans 2014 Programs of Measures 2016 Reporting 2018 ......

4. Revised Commission Decision (2010/477/EU) - DRAFT text D10C1 – Primary: The composition, amount and spatial distribution of litter on the coastline, in the surface layer of the water column, and on the seabed, are at levels that do not cause harm to the coastal and marine environment. D10C2 – Primary: The composition, amount and spatial distribution of micro-litter on the coastline, in the surface layer of the water column, and in seabed sediment, are at levels that do not cause harm to the coastal and marine environment. For both: Member States shall establish threshold values for these levels through cooperation at Union level, taking into account regional or subregional specificities.

5. D10C3 – Secondary: The amount of litter and micro-litter ingested by marine animals is at a level that does not adversely affect the health of the species concerned. D10C4 – Secondary: The number of individuals of each species which are adversely affected, such as by entanglement, other types of injury or mortality, or health effects, due to litter. For both: Member States shall establish threshold values for the adverse effects of litter, through regional or subregional cooperation. Each criterion provides data on different environmental compartment/impact.

6. MSFD Technical Group on Marine Litter • MSFD CIS 2016-2019 mandate • Technical Group under MSFD CIS • EC DGs, EEA • MS expert delegates • NGOs • RSCs Secretariats • Other Stakeholders and Experts • Providing guidance • Overview reports • Discussing technical issues • Maintaining overview on research topics • Exchange platform with RSCs

7. Guidance on monitoring of marine litter • Reference on monitoring methods for marine litter in Europe and beyond • Published 2013, now under review

8. Identifying Sources of Marine Litter • Brief overview of the main methods used and outlines the likelihood approach for determining sources of marine litter. • Presents other parameters that can be used to analyze data-sets, with regard to the use and origin of litter items in the marine or coastal environments. • Recommendations to help the process of identification of sources.

9. Harm caused by Marine Litter • Evaluates the major negative impacts from marine litter. • Seeks to quantify the impacts from marine litter in terms of significance and extent. • Harm is discussed in relation to a risk assessment framework.

10. Riverine Litter Monitoring • Compiles the options for monitoring of riverine litter and quantification of litter fluxes. • Provides current scientific and technical background regarding litter in river systems. • First recommendations for monitoring approaches and methodologies.

11. Marine Litter baselines • Workshop 14.+15.3.2016, DG ENV, Brussels, Belgium • Work done through MSFD TG ML, reporting to GES • Input from MS (and other) experts • Work is ongoing, 8.+9.6.2017 discussion in TG ML • Quantitative reduction targets are needed • Starting point for reduction trend calculations • Verification of PoM impact • Adaptation and planning of future PoM

12. Marine Litter baselines roadmap • Overview on data availability • Selection of scenarios • Acquisition of test data sets • Compilation of data set • Application of algorithms for baseline setting/trend assessments • Development of guidelines on baseline setting

13. Harmonization of monitoring “Monitoring creates the data of tomorrow” “Operationally defined parameters (non SI)” TG Marine Litter role: • Maintaining overview on scientific developments • Consideration of MS monitoring plans • Regular updates on harmonization of MSFD Guidance for monitoring of marine litter • Organization of dedicated technical workshops • Microplastic: pooling recent research results

14. FLOATING MARINE MACRO LITTER • JRC organized International Expert Workshop, Barcelona, Spain on 27.+28.10.2016 • Policy participants included UNEP HQ, NOAA, MAP, BSC • Technical experts included participants from EU, USA, South Africa, Japan, Russia, Ukraine • Overview about existing data and initiatives, data needs, • scientific approaches • Scientific report on monitoring • of FMML + Protocol in preparation

15. Top Litter Items • Which are the top items on which policy measures e.g. EU Plastics Strategy need to focus? • Litter Master Category list • Reference list for the identification of macro litter items (under review in TG ML), as access to source info • Litter source identification and modelling • Needs harmonised pan-European (and beyond) datasets of sufficient quality and time/spatial coverage • Programs of measures • Support in selection and efficiency evaluation

16. JRC River Litter Observation Network • 33 Institutes, Authorities, NGOs • 54 rivers, ca. bi-weekly monitoring • Monitoring is on-going, first 3 months data collected • Contact: rimmel@ec.europa.eu

17. Marine Litter – Data • Currently litter data bases are fragmented (RSCs, research projects, support projects (e.g. EMBLAS), national databases, LITTERBASE, etc..) • Important to link with MSFD WG DIKE (Reporting) + MSFD Technical Group DATA (EMODNET is invited) • Interaction between different data+information systems/holders is important (efficient use of resources, compatibilty of systems, etc.) ! Focus on data products. • TG Marine Litter as discussion platform regarding marine litter specific data aspects. Feedback from EMODNET is welcome needed (e.g. during upcoming TG ML annual meeting or through TG ML wiki)!

18. Marine Litter – Data • Data availability + quality • What denotes quality of data for ML? Which are indicators for „bad“ quality? When are data „fit for purpose“? How to flag/use data from different providers (national authority monitoring/research projects/citizen science)? • Identification of hindrances for data comparability • E.g. different size ranges, different nets, different category lists, etc.. Feedback to TG ML! • Parameters • Which parameters, linked to MSFD criteria, will be reported (MS, RSCs)? Beach-macro, Seafloor-macro, Floating-macro, Beach-micro, Floating-micro, Seafloor-micro, ingestion, entanglement?

19. Data products • What is needed for MSFD support/implementation? • Support assessments? Link with thresholds (future)? • While EMODNET will need to develop over time, it may be important to provide an infrastructure which can later support additional products.

20. non-litter......: • Contaminants MSFD D8+D9 • MSFD GES + related structures (e.g. MSFD contaminant expert network) • Topics: e.g. substance (de-)selection, matrix selection, WFD compatibility, aggregation, EQS-TGD, etc...

21. Thanks for your attention!