Thursday 11th April
Review of day 1 conclusions, introduction to the programme of the day and Awareness block
Key-note speeches
The goal of the session was:
- Currentl research on marine litter, focus on the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, chemical impact of plastics on marine biota, new tools for monitoring marine litter and its impact on biodiversity and related indicators.
Chairperson:
- Pilar Zorzo, President of the AEBAM
Speakers:
- "Marine litter research in support of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)" by François Galgani, IFREMER.
- "Chemical impact of plastics on marine biota" by Ethel Eljarrat, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA) - Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).
- "Marine litter: new tools for monitoring" by Jesús Gago, Spanish Oceanographic Institute.
- "Marine litter impact on biodiversity and related indicators" by Cristina Fossi, University of Siena.
Round of questions
Key-note speeches
- "Marine litter research in support of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)" by François Galgani, IFREMER.
François Galgani talked about the role of Marine litter research in support of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), which undertakes different issues, such as monitoring, port reception facilities, SUP Directive, Plastic Stateg and regional cooperation. He remarked that IFREMER operates the French oceanographic fleet for the benefit of the entire scientific community.
IFREMER designs and builds maritime monitoring and research infrastructures, as well as tools for scientific observation, research and for database management. He said they are currently working on new challenges to solve many problems about marine debris and its effect on sea life.
He talked about the Technical Group on Marine Litter (The TG Litter) and the current work they are undertaking as baselines on Marine Litter, updating monitoring guidance 2019, revision of the marine litter master list 2019, research project list, following the development of Impact Criteria D10C3 (sea turtles) plus the D10C4, etc.
He mentioned some marine litter databases and websites, such as EMODNET which has a chemistry module and gives information about beach litter, sea floor litter and micro litter. He remarked the importance of compatible data structure, data exchange and metadata.
He ended by talking about the research projects in support of both MSFD and the new SUP Directive. He talked about the European BLUEMED initiative, where IFREMER participated in the work coordinated by the European Commission to formulate a new strategic research and innovation agenda for the Mediterranean Sea. The objective is to meet the various challenges in marine and maritime research in the Mediterranean Sea to develop growth and promote the creation of new jobs.
- "Chemical impact of plastics in marine biota" by Ethel Eljarrat, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA) - Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).
Ethel talked about the effects of chemical compounds associated with plastics in marine biota. She said that there are more than 3,000 chemical substances associated with plastics and at least 60 of them produce harmful effects for the environment and human health. She highlighted the fact that the others have simply not yet been studied.
The research group is focused on flame retardants, plasticizers and those that in view of their quantity are more important to evaluate. The importance of studying them is because they are persistent organic pollutants, being very stable against degradation, bioaccumulation and biomagnification throughout the food chain. They also have the potential to be transported over large distances and reach remote areas, such as Antarctica.
She mentioned that there are some alternatives to these compounds, but structural composition is similar and they behave in an analogous way to those already banned.
She highlighted that these compounds reach the marine environment through microplastics from cosmetics, toothpaste, etc.
She mentioned some studies where the presence of flame retardants, their effects and different evaluations such as biomagnification, temporal trends, maternal transfer or long-range transport, have been studied in biopsy samples or in samples of stranded animals. She mentioned that chemical compounds that were banned 10 years ago are still being found in the tissues of stranded marine mammals.
She ended by saying that organophosphate plasticizers in marine biota tissues could be an indicator of contamination of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans, although more information about plastic transfer additives to organisms after ingestion, the origin of these additives accumulated in tissues of organisms and more data in different seas and comparison with plastic debris distribution studies are needed.
- "Marine litter: new tools for monitoring" by Jesús Gago, Spanish Oceanographic Institute.
He talked about new tools for monitoring marine litter. He stressed that it is not simply due to the different categories and the huge amount of items of marine waste, up to 200, from gloves to batteries, etc.
Their aim is to straightforward the protocol of marine litter characterization as much as possible to allow the adaptation of the sampling protocol to make data comparison with other sampling methods in an easy way.
They study different ways of analyzing marine litter in a non-invasive way, although heavy marine litter is not included, so the data are not accurate. By using ROVs and Photogrammetric sleds, they obtain non-invasive images of the marine debris.
He explained that floating marine litter in coastal areas and on the sea surface is analyzed by satellites (open source and commercial). The analysis consists of testing spectral signatures of different cover types - comparing them to the spectral signatures of plastic litter. He also talked about the advantages of using drones in this kind of studies; however, he said that many are lost due to the electromagnetic source of the ships and also good weather conditions are required to use them.
He stressed the necessity to involve groups of students to use these technologies; therefore, they count on raising awareness and citizen science activities, such as fishing for litter actions, activities with local students to classify the litter fished, reports with a video to cover the whole process, etc.
- "Marine litter impact on biodiversity and related indicators" by Cristina Fossi, University of Siena.
Cristina Fossi during her speech
Cristina Fossi started by saying that there is a gap on identifying the impact of marine debris since the quantification of microplastics in the marine environment can depend on different environmental factors and change according to multiple oceanographic features. Therefore, they support the necessity to study the marine litter impact on biodiversity through bioindicators, for example large filter-feeding species, such as the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus).
She stressed that some species are more exposed to plastics than others due to the huge amount of water they ingest during their filtering activity for feeding. She talked about some studies they carried out in which, depending of the contamination of the feeding areas, the tissues of the bioindicators presented higher or lower levels of microplastics.
She talked about the Hydrodynamic Model which allowed them to predict the dispersion of plastic particles and therefore to identify areas of accumulation and non-accumulation of microplastic. Thus, the multi-layer approach used to investigate the possible overlap between microplastic convergence areas and fin whale feeding grounds allowed them to suggest potential risk areas for whale feeding.
She talked about the bioaccumulation of microplastics and the problems it has on rising in the food chain. This means that top predators show a higher concentration of contaminants, which includes many edible species. Therefore, the content of plastics in fish varies with the position of the species in the food chain and the contamination of the habitat of the individual fish.
Following their aim to study the impact of marine litter on Mediterranean marine life and to develop a monitoring protocol based on bioindicator organisms, she explained the importance of carrying out the projects from a threefold monitoring approach, which includes analysis of the stomach contents to evaluate the marine litter ingested, analysis of plastic additives and PBT compounds used as plastic tracers, and finally the analysis of the effects by biomarker responses at different levels of organization.
She ended by stressing the raising of the awareness of the population. She also referred to the importance of disseminating all the scientific evidence and of involving the new generations on this.
Attendants to Key Notes Speech Session
Round of questions
- From Pilar Zorzo to Ethel Eljarrat: What are the effects on human health and the difficulty in studying them?
Ethel Eljarrat: The impact on human health would be given in the same way as for marine species. These substances have been found in human food, and all fat foods may have these elements; also, transfer from the mother to the foetus can occur. These substances appeared in breast milk.
- From François Galgani to Cristina Fossi: Due to the current knowledge about microplastics and political concern, is there a switch of interest in citizenship about plastics in food?
Cristina Fossi: Because we remove the digestive tract in the food we consume there should be no transfer of these substances to our organism, but scientific studies are needed to prove this.
- From Pilar Zorzo to Cristina Fossi: Can microplastics be transferred between tissues?
Cristina Fossi: They could be.
- From Sara (Mater museoa) to Ethel Eljarrat: Why are additives not regulated or is this information not disclosed in food contact plastics?
Ethel: Investigation comes after application; some are already banned, but their properties make them very persistent. Many years of research are necessary to prove this effect, how it accumulates, and there are no alternatives because they are chemically very similar. Jesús Gago adds that additives should be regulated because food is as important as the substances that it is in contact with.