Block 4. Awareness, Conservation and Citizen Science
The session included a participatory action and a subsequent plenary session:
- Participatory action: the goal was to show and compare different citizen science methodologies used in the characterization of marine litter through the applications MARNOBA, Marine Litter Watch and the Ministry of Ecological Transition Data Card. The activity took place on a beach in the SPA Marine Area of the Tinto and the Odiel and “Odiel Marshes” Biosphere Reserve and Natural Park in Huelva.
RESULTS OF THE PARTICIPATORY ACTION
The activity took place within the SPA Marine Area of the Tinto and the Odiel and “Odiel Marshes” Biosphere Reserve and Natural Park in Huelva. The action, coordinated by AEBAM, was carried out with the collaboration of Surfrider Foundation Spain, Hombre y Territorio Association (HyT), Vertidos Cero Association and the Aquarium of Seville. This block was developed thanks to the support of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition.
During the activity, in which more than 100 people participated, the characterization of more than 650 objects on 400 m of beach, mostly plastic items, was carried out. For the characterization, 3 monitoring methodologies were used simultaneously, through Citizen Science, applied at national and international level: Data card on marine litter on beaches from the Citizen Science Programme on Marine Litter of the Ministry for Ecological Transition, produced within the framework of the Spanish Marine Strategies, MARNOBA App, from Vertidos Cero Association, that applies a methodology adapted to this Data Card, and the adapted protocol of SurfriderEurope (Ocean Initiatives) of Marine Litter Watch from the European Environment Agency.
A comparison of the results obtained using the three methodologies showed the existing harmonization between them. Although the percentages related to the categories detected (plastic, others, hygienic-sanitary...) are very similar, there are some differences regarding the most frequent objects or Top 10: the MITECO data card divides the fishing objects (tangles and nets) into two, meaning that they do not appear among the three most frequent, which is what happens with the other two methodologies.
Please consult and downoad the Document of Conclusions in Spanish: Click here
Regional television report (Canal Sur - RTVA) about the Block 4: Conservation, awarenes and citizen science
With the support of