MARINE LITTER ACTIVITY Monitoring Marine Litter on Katarti

MARINE LITTER ACTIVITY Monitoring Marine Litter on Katarti Beach of Samothraki

DEFINITION • Marine litter is any persistent, manufactured or processed solid material that is discarded, disposed of or abandoned in the marine and/or coastal environment. • It is waste produced by human activity, either on land or at sea, that somehow finds its way into the marine environment.

IMPORTANCE It is a hot issue, largely due to: a) Its increasing amounts all around the world b) The threatening and largely unknown effects of microplastics (objects of diameter < 5 mm), generated as the brittle plastic objects break down to small particles and spread throughout the entire sea column.

Our clean-up activity took place in Katarti beach of Samothrace on 18/7/2016. Aprox. 20 -25 people gave us a hand.

Facts about the Katarti beach It is surrounded by rocky steep cliffs and can be accessed only by boat. It is sandy, covering a total estimated space of ~2, 500 sq meters. It has a small stream of fresh water on one side. During the summer season the beach receives daily ~ 50 visitors by boat (daily cruises). It is regularly cleaned by the boat owner.

From a distance the beach looks clean and pristine, but lets take a closer look. . .

The monitoring form we used Monitoring Marine Litter on Beaches (> 2. 5 cm in diameter) This survey form will be used by all regional seas after 2017, while in Europe the EAA will compile and monitor the yearly marine litter data, based on this form. http: //mio-ecsde. org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Beach-litter_monitoringmethodology_complete. pdf OUTCOME: 2 FILLED GARBAGE BAGS with total weight ~ 4 -5 Kg

Analysing the types of recorded litter

FROM A TOTAL OF 583 OBJECTS 38% 62% OTHERS MICROPLASTICS WERE EXCLUDED IN OUR ANALYSIS AS THEY ARE DEBRIS FROM PREVIOUSLY ACCUMULATED LITTER, THAT CANNOT BE IDENTIFIED

S IC M RA CE AL 3 AS S/ ET D 0 1 M OO W AR D 8 GL D OR KE W D/ SE ES OC BO E IL XT TE AR D R/ C H/ ER BB RU LS IA ER AT M OT CL ER LY M 5 PA PE PO 200 PR AL CI FI TI AR ITEMS EXCLUDING MICRO-LITTER (223) 250 201 150 100 50 4 1

ORIGIN OF THE LITTER ITEMS 28% 20% Beach Visitors Fisheries/fishing 7% Long Distance 45% Others

ARTIFICIAL POLYMER MATERIALS 3 4 22 2 6 Shopping Bags, incl. pieces Drink bottles <=0. 5 l 8 9 Drink bottles >0. 5 l 1 Food containers incl. fast food containers 2 8 Other bottles & containers (drums) Injection gun containers 4 1 12 51 3 2 10 18 19 6 20 6 1 Plastic caps/lids drinks Plastic caps/lids chemicals, detergents (non-food) Plastic caps/lids unidentified Plastic rings from bottle caps/lids Tobacco pouches / plastic cigarette box packaging Cigarette lighters Pens and pen lids Cups and cup lids Cutlery and trays Straws and stirrers 1 Rope (diameter more than 1 cm) String and cord (diameter less than 1 cm) Nets and pieces of net < 50 cm

SOLUTION ? ? ? Solving the problem requires a series of concerted actions from the states, private sector (producers, tourism & fish industry etc), local authorities and individuals, at the heart of which Prevention and Good Waste Management, the main tool of which is Public Awareness and Education. Even though beach cleanups can’t solve the problem, they are considered to: • Be a useful tool to raise awareness and sensitize. • Generate data highly useful for marine litter scientists and policy makers, when combined with an accurate recording.