Characterization & Quantification of Marine Litter-Catalonia

Marine litter is one of the main causes of marine pollution posing serious environmental and economic threats around the world. Plastics are the most important type of litter worldwide, making up 60-80% of total marine litter with harmful environmental impacts on habitat and species and economic impacts on blue economy sectors such as fisheries.
The geomorphological characteristics of the Mediterranean Sea makes it especially vulnerable to the effects of marine litter which is considered one of the most polluted seas on the planet, with a substantial accumulation of marine litter on the seafloor. Collection and disposal of marine litter is very difficult because of the drift and the immensity of the tri-dimensional space through which objects and particles move.
Due to the above mentioned reasons, little is known on the distribution, types and quantities of litter accumulated on the shelves, slopes and deep basins in the Mediterranean and no information is available at the basin scale. Therefore, research studies to collect and analyze data from marine litter to gain a better understanding of the issue are extremely needed. In the framework of the Maritime Strategy of Catalonia there are three important initiatives to tackle the challenge of marine litter pollution: research and monitoring, a fishers initiative to collect marine litter in fishing grownds and the removal of lost fishing gear.
Monitoring marine litter
The Catalan Research Institute for the Governance of the Sea (ICATMAR) has developed a monitoring program to characterize the fishing catch of the Catalonian trawl fleet, which also includes marine litter. The study characterizes and quantifies litter within three different geographical areas along the Catalan coast and four different depth ranges.
The first results, published in 2021, revealed that plastics is the dominant category of marine litter in the center of the Catalan coast, and the highest concentration of plastics is in the depth range between 75 and 200m. Within the plastic category, wet wipes are the main component, making up 57% of the category, and is highest density at depth is found between 75 and 200m representing more than 70% of the plastic fraction.
The Pescaneta project
The Pescaneta project was born in 2020 funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (FEMP) and the government of Catalonia. The main objectives of the project are the collection of marine litter during fishing trips, the evaluation of the impact of marine litter on the fishing activity and to increase social awareness to prevent the arrival of litter to the sea. The project is led by the Catalonian fisheries sector trough the Catalonian Nacional Federation of Fishers Associations. In 2022 a total of 712 vessels have participated in the project removing a volume of near of 71,000L and dedicating more than 1500 hours to its removal.
Location and Removal of lost fishing gear
Lost fishing gear (LFG) are all those moorings for sport or professional fishing that have been abandoned at sea having important negative effects on species and habitats, and also on the economic sectors. The initiative to locate and remove fishing gear from the sea bottom along the whole Catalonian coast has the objective to reduce the incidence of LFG on the seabed and raising awareness about the problem in the numerous sectors involved. Several effective actions have already been carried out in this regard.