Session Chair: Peter Kershaw, The Joint Group of Experts on Scientific Aspects of Marine Protection
This panel will discuss the urgent need to provide guidelines for the development of reliable monitoring and assessment programmes of marine litter, for use by Regional Seas, national statutory bodies, NGOs and other interested parties.
There is an urgent need to provide guidelines for the development of reliable monitoring and assessment programmes of marine litter, for use by Regional Seas, national statutory bodies, NGOs and other interested parties. The development of more harmonised approaches will help to promote data sharing and a common understanding of the distribution and impacts of all sizes of marine litter, together with evidence of time trends to measure the effectiveness of potential reduction methods. This session will describe the objectives and progress of an international Working Group, which has been asked to produce a set of guidelines, for publication later in 2018. The guidelines will cover definitions of size and shape, sampling protocols in a range of environments, the selection of indicators, methods for physical and chemical analysis and overall programme design. The session is intended to provide an opportunity for attendees to review the objectives, ask questions and provide suggestions. The Group is organised under the auspices of GESAMP.
PANEL:
- – Francois Galgani, French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER)
- – Sang Hee Hong, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology
- – Heidi Savelli, United Nations Environment Programme
- – Alexander Turra, University of São Paulo (USP)