Friday Ocean Findings Issue 67: OSPAR action on marine litter

It’s been an exceptionally productive year for OSPAR’s Marine Litter Group, reflecting our collective commitment to reducing litter pollution across the North-East Atlantic. Over the summer we published an impressive suite of measures, assessments and background documents—ranging from new measures to prevent the release of foamed plastics and plastic biomedia, to updated monitoring guidelines, to comprehensive assessments of beach litter trends, pellet loss, and progress under the North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy (NEAES). These deliverables mark important steps forward in strengthening knowledge, improving monitoring, and supporting effective action to tackle marine litter.

Last week, the group met online to take this momentum even further, continuing work on implementation of measures, monitoring efforts, coordination at a regional level and future priorities for action. Their dedication and expertise remain central to driving progress under OSPAR’s Second Regional Action Plan for Marine Litter and the NEAES.

Please visit the OSPAR website for more information on OSPAR's work on marine litter.

^{Image: ICG-ML co-convenors, coordination team and Secretariat}

Decision 2025/02 to prevent the release of expanded polystyrene (EPS), extruded polystyrene (XPS), and other foamed plastic from pontoons and buoys

Recommendation 2025/02 on the application of best practice for reducing marine litter in the OSPAR Maritime Area

Agreement 2025-14: Best practice guidance to prevent the loss or leakage of plastic biomedia in wastewater treatment plants

Agreement 2025-16: CEMP Guidelines for monitoring and assessment of plastic litter ingested by fledglings of Cory’s shearwaters (Calonectris borealis) in the North-East Atlantic

Agreement 2020-02: Updated CEMP Guidelines on monitoring of beach litter

Overview assessment report of Recommendation 2021/06 on the reduction of plastic pellet loss into the marine environment

Assessment of beach litter abundance, composition and trends in the OSPAR Maritime Area over 2018-2023

Interim review and evaluation of OSPAR’s 2nd Regional Action Plan for Marine Litter

Background document on use of chafing gear with a focus on dolly ropes as a source of marine litter in the OSPAR Maritime Area

Background document on entanglement of sea turtles in the OSPAR Maritime Area and in Macaronesia

Report for the monitoring of progress against the beach litter target under the NEAES Operational Objective S4.O4

Report for the monitoring of progress against the NEAES Operational Objective S4.O3

OSPAR Commission
https://www.ospar.org/ | [email protected]
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7430 5200
The Aspect, 12 Finsbury Square, London, EC2A 1AS, United Kingdom

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