Source: Plastic Busters website

Even though the Mediterranean is one of the seas most affected by marine litter worldwide, knowledge gaps still exist concerning the amounts, types, sources, impacts and distribution patterns of marine litter. Even in pristine environments of the Mediterranean, such as coastal and marine protected areas (MPAs), marine litter is building up threatening habitats and species.

To address these gaps, the Interreg Med Plastic Busters MPAs project has elaborated and applied in pelagic and coastal Mediterranean MPAs a harmonized monitoring approach for detecting the presence of macrolitter and microlitter in all marine compartments and for detecting the impact of marine litter on marine ecosystems and species.

The Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of the Republic of Croatia, together with the University of Siena (Italy), ISPRA and the University of Split, (Croatia) will organize on the 24th of May 2021, from 9:30 AM till 12:00 AM, an on-line regional training on how to moniror and assess marine litter in a harmonized way. The training is targeted to MPA managers, and scientists, experts and practitioners working in an MPA.

The training will introduce participants tothe basics of marine litter monitoring and will provide an overview of the methodologies and approaches to monitor the presence of marine litter on beaches, the sea surface, and the sea floor. Furthermore, the training will feature the Plastic Busters MPAs 3-fold approach in moniotring the impact of marine litter on marine species.

This regional training is planned in two related parts, first as an on line event, while the second one is planed as an on-site event in Croatia, in fall 2021. It is encouraged for the same participants to attend both events.

If you wish to join the training, kindly register here by the 15th of May 2021.