The quest for seafloor macrolitter: A critical review of background knowledge, current methods and future prospects
Canals, Miquel; Pham, Christopher K.; Bergmann, Melanie; Gutow, Lars; Hanke, Georg; van Sebille, Erik; Angiolillo, Michela; Buhl-Mortensen, Lene; Cau, Alessando; Ioakeimidis, Christos; Kammann, Ulrike; Lundsten, Lonny; Papatheodorou, George; Purser, Autun; Sanchez-Vidal, Anna; Schulz, Marcus; Vinci, Matteo; Chiba, Sanae; Galgani, François; Langenkämper, Daniel; Möller, Tiia; Nattkemper, Tim W.; Ruiz, Marta; Suikkanen, Sanna; Woodall, Lucy; Fakiris, Elias; Molina Jack, Maria Eugenia; Giorgetti, Alessandra
(2021) Environmental Research Letters, volume 16, issue 2, pp. 1 - 29
(Article)
Abstract
The seafloor covers some 70% of the Earth’s surface and has been recognised as a major sink for marine litter. Still, litter on the seafloor is the least investigated fraction of marine litter, which is not surprising as most of it lies in the deep sea, i.e. the least explored
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ecosystem. Although marine litter is considered a major threat for the oceans, monitoring frameworks are still being set up. This paper reviews current knowledge and methods, identifies existing needs, and points to future developments that are required to address the estimation of seafloor macrolitter. It provides background knowledge and conveys the views and thoughts of scientific experts on seafloor marine litter offering a review of monitoring and ocean modelling techniques. Knowledge gaps that need to be tackled, data needs for modelling, and data comparability and harmonisation are also discussed. In addition, it shows how research on seafloor macrolitter can inform international protection and conservation frameworks to prioritise efforts and measures against marine litter and its deleterious impacts.
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Keywords: Data harmonisation, Deep sea, Marine litter, Modelling, Seafloor, Trawl surveys, Visual surveys, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, General Environmental Science, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
ISSN: 1748-9318
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Note: Funding Information: Recognizing the need to expand the focus of seafloor investigations, the significance of seafloor macrolit-ter, and the potential benefits of moving towards harmonised litter monitoring at large scale, the European Commission Joint Research Centre and the Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar-und Meeresforschung organised a dedicated workshop. Discussions amongst experts in that field allowed identifying topics, needs, and possible ways forward towards better assessments of seafloor litter. This paper provides the outcome from that workshop, which was held in Bremerhaven, Germany, on the 30 and 31 of May 2018. Authors are grateful to Martina Pierdomenico and Daniele Casalbore from the National Research Council (CNR), and Francesco Chiocci from the University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy, for providing the pictures in figure 1, and to Caladan Oceanics for providing the picture in figure 8(c). Thanks are also given to J L Casamor and J Beerman for working out some of the figures. MC and ASV acknowledge support from Red BAMAR (ref. CGL2016-81854-REDT), a research network on marine litter sponsored by the Spanish Government; IDEM project (Implementation of the MSFD to the DEep Mediterranean Sea, agreement number 11.0661/2017/750680/SUB/ENV.C2), of the Directorate General for Environment of the EC; and CRG on Marine Geosciences (ref. 2017 SGR 315) of Generalitat de Catalunya autonomous government. EvS was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement 715386). TM acknowledges Estonian Environmental Investment Center projects 15425 (Marine litter in the small islands of Estonia) and 13382 (Monitoring of seafloor litter in coastal sea of Estonia, development of methodology and assessment for MSFD reporting). LW acknowledges support from Nekton, a not-for-profit research foundation and a UK registered charity. We sincerely value the comments of two anonymous reviewers, who improved an earlier version of this paper. This publication is Eprint ID 52860 of the Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar-und Meeresforschung. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
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