A Deep Dive into marine litter

Marine litter and plastic pollution continue to threaten ecosystems, marine life, human health and coastal communities. The amount of litter entering our oceans is growing rapidly and it is projected that plastic marine waste will triple by 2040 if no significant measures are taken (UNEP, 2021). An important factor in solving the marine litter problem, is that those who make decisions understand the sources and behaviours behind littering.

As a complementary tool to other beach litter protocols, SALT and GRID-Arendal have developed the Deep Dive online portal to gain further understanding of the sources and pathways of marine litter, particularly in the Arctic, which can provide useful information for management (Falk-Andersson et al., 2021). The portal is based on the Deep Dive method with the idea of providing information that directly targets polluters and managers in a way that will help and motivate them to take mitigating measures (Falk-Andersson, 2021). Deep Dive uses an adaptive and in-depth approach, facilitating open dialogues with relevant people and organisations with the aim to share knowledge, target specific behaviours, and find appropriate solutions to stop marine littering.

Why the Arctic?

With some of the highest microplastic burdens in the world, combined with its ongoing monumental climate change, the Arctic is particularly vulnerable to the effects from marine litter (UNEP, 2021). Marine litter can cause suffering and potentially the death of animals through entanglement or digestion, as well as having a negative impact on recreational activities, tourism and Indigenous Communities (Falk-Andersson and Strietman, 2019; UNEP, 2021).

The majority of plastic marine litter in the Arctic comes from sea-based activities such as fisheries and aquaculture, and a recent study estimated that an annual 380 tons of plastic marine litter comes from the Norwegian fishing industry alone as abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear (UNEP, 2021) (Deshpande et al., 2020). “Ghost fishing” (when lost or discarded fishing gear that is no longer under a fisherman’s control continues to trap and kill marine wildlife) caused by lost fishing nets can also have a significant impact on local fish stocks.

Building bridges

By inviting fisheries, experts from relevant fields, beach cleaners and other relevant managers to take part in the beach litter analysis, the Deep Dive method can create a strong collaboration with local communities. The experts can help to identify waste products and provide their insight to the behaviours behind the littering which is necessary to make sure that appropriate solutions can be implemented. These sessions can also be used to emphasise the extent and impacts of marine litter, hopefully motivating the polluters to take action.

Joint effort to reduce marine litter

After finding a large amount of ropes and other gear from the fishing industry during a Deep Dive in Longyearbyen in 2018, the Deep Dive organizers invited local fishermen and other experts for an open dialogue. They explained how they often had to cut off ropes during net maintenance and that these cut-offs could be left on deck and washed overboard and that bad weather increased the likelihood of gear loss (Falk-Andersson and Strietman, 2019). Through open dialogues, several implementation measures were suggested to reduce these discards of ropes and fishing gear including adjusting fishing activities according to weather conditions, train employees in environmental responsibility and establishing better routines to prevent rope losses (Falk-Andersson, 2021).

Scaling out

The Deep Dive method has shown a great potential in establishing appropriate solutions to local marine litter through its in-depth and collaborative approach. Today, the Deep Dive portal focuses on the Arctic region, but by allowing data collection to be tailored according to each specific litter situation and those involved in the litter production, Deep Dive has the potential to expand to other regions, boosting marine litter reduction.

The Deep Dive portal is currently being further developed by GRID-Arendal in collaboration with NIVA and SALT.

References

Deshpande, P.C., Philis, G., Brattebø, H. and Fet, A.M. (2020) “Using Material Flow Analysis (MFA) to generate the evidence on plastic waste management from commercial fishing gears in Norway,” Resources, Conservation & Recycling: X, 5, p. 100024. doi:10.1016/J.RCRX.2019.100024.

Falk-Andersson, J. (2021) “Beach litter deep dives – A method for improved understanding of sources of and behaviour behind littering,” Marine Pollution Bulletin, 167, p. 112346. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112346.

Falk-Andersson, J. and Strietman, W.J. (2019) Svalbard Beach Litter Deep Dive . Available at: www.salt.nu (Accessed: April 5, 2022).

Falk-Andersson, J., Tairova, Z., Tokvam Drægni, T., & Larsen Haarr, M. (2021). Methods for determining the geographical origin and age of beach litter: Challenges and opportunities. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 172, 112901. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MARPOLBUL.2021.112901

UNEP (2021) From pollution to solution. A global assessment of marine litter and plastic pollution. Nairobi. Available at: https://www.unep.org/ (Accessed: March 18, 2022).