Towards a Clean, Litter-Free European Marine Environment through Scientific Evidence, Innovative Tools and Good Governance

CleanSea er et EU-prosjekt som skal se på plastavfall i de Europeiske hav, særlig havene som er knyttet til Europa. Det er store mengder plastikk som driver i vann massene. Plastikken brytes svert sakte ned og blir etter hvert knust i mindre og mindre bit er, og kan så bli tatt opp av organismer i havet. Plastikk kan derfor gjør stor skade på disse organismene. Den kan også trekke til seg andre miljøgifter og/eller ødelegge hele økosystemer på kysten. CLEANSEA inkluderer partnere fra forskjellige fag som s kal evaluere både de økonomiske, samfunnsmessige og miljørelaterte utfordringene. NILU er ansvarlig for å samle inn data fra plastikk funn i Nord-Atlanteren, undersøke mageinnholdet i marine fugler, spesielt havhest, gjennomføre kjemisk analysere av plastikk og vevs prøver av den og identifisere kjemisk sammensetning av plastikk funnet i fuglene. NILU er den eneste partneren fra Norge og vil gjerne virke som en kontaktflate for Norske forsknings miljøer mot CleanSea. CleanSea ble startet opp i januar 2013 og varer til desember 2015. Prosjekt ansvarlig for NILU er Dr. Dorte Herzke. Støtte fra NFR ble brukt med å gjennomføre flere formidlingsaktiviteter som informerer Troms Fylkeskommune på et seminar en stand på Forskingstorget i Tromsø 2013 og 2014 med tema Plast i havet. I tillegg ble prøver fra havhest samlet inn og analysert for de resterende midlene. Samarbeid med Tromsø kommune er etablert og videre samarbeid på innsamling av plast funnet i fjæra er avtalt CleanSea is a EU project investigating marine plastic litter in the European Seas/Oceans. Huge quantities of plastic litter float in the water masses. Plastic particles do degrade very slowly and they will get broken down to smaller and smaller pie ces over time. These pieces can be taken up by organisms living in the ocean, causing harm on several levels. Plastic litter can attract other pollutants and harm whole ecosystems along the coasts. CLEANSEA includes partners from divers scientific backgro unds including NGOs and SMEs, evaluating both the economic, social and environmental challenges. NILU is responsible to collect data of plastic litter found along the Norwegian coast (North Atlantic ocean), investigate stomach contents of marine birds esp ecially the Northern Fulmar, carry out chemical analysis of plastic litter and tissue samples and identify the chemical composition of the plastic found in the birds. NILU is the only Norwegian partner and is aiming at being a contact surface for Norwegia n research community into CLEANSEA. CleanSea started in January 2013 and will last until December 2015. Project responsible is Dr. Dorte Herzke. Funds from NFR were used to carry out a number of information activities as a seminar with Troms fylkeskommune and a booth at the Research fair in Tromsø,in 2013 and 2014 with Plastic in the sea as a topic. In additions were stomach content and tissue samples from Northern Fulmar collected and analysed for pollutants. A collaboration with Tromsø Kommune is established and further collaborations is agreed on especially on the identification of plastic found at the beaches in Norway.

CLEANSEA aims to generate new information on the impacts (biological, social and economic) of marine litter, develop novel tools needed to collect and monitor litter and protocols needed for monitoring data (litter composition and quantities) and evaluate the impact of mitigation strategies and measures in order to provide policy options to policy makers in the EU. As in Europe there is an urgent need for an improved knowledge base for the management of marine litter in Norwegian waters. Both Svalbard and numerous beaches and shorelines of Norway have been covered by plastic waste in addition to the unknown amounts of plastic waste floating in Norwegian waters, endangering both sea life and fishing industry. The work carried out by NILU will concentrate o n characterization of marine litter in the North Atlantic region. Quantities, composition and distribution of marine litter will be investigated. Physical, toxicological and chemical impacts will be assessed, and compared to three other regions in Europe. In this way, the work will contribute to development of monitoring strategies and monitoring methods for marine debris, as a basis for better management strategies. The research program of the RCN Hav og kysten with all its 5 subprograms is covering many aspects of CLEANSEA without having funded related research in this scale yet. CLEANSEA will support the research underway in Norway in addition to enabling Norwegian researchers to become a part of a European network of researchers investigating marine l itter in the main European regions. CLEANSEA comprises top scientific groups from eleven European countries distributed over the four marine regions. It also includes six SMEs, four of them focused on technological innovation of monitoring and litter coll ection, mitigation and recycling tools. CLEANSEA will tackle the marine litter problem from a broad interdisciplinary perspective.