Data from studies monitoring the amount of consumer plastic eaten by sea birds suggest that levels in the North Sea are well above targets... and the figures are rising.
For the most recent monitoring period, the target amount was exceeded in well over half the birds studied, with the English Channel being the worst affected region with 74% of birds over the threshold.
One of the main legal instruments safeguarding the North Sea is the Oslo and Paris Convention (OSPAR), an agreement between 15 West European countries, together with the European Commission, to protect the marine environment of the northeast Atlantic and to prevent human health effects related to its pollution and deterioration.
Since the Convention was signed in 1992, the OSPAR Commission, in partnership with the International Council for Exploration of the Sea, has developed ecological quality objectives (EcoQOs) to provide indicators for the status of the marine environment. OSPAR EcoQOs include indicators for marine mammals that require monitoring of annual by-catch and targets for the weight of spawning fish among commercial species.
Also the EU’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which provides a framework for achieving ‘Good Environmental Status’ in the marine environment mentions the example of the EcoQO for the fulmar (a common seabird related to the albatross) as an indicator.
The EcoQO for monitoring of marine litter is based on measuring the amount of plastic in the stomachs of fulmars. The target is a situation where less than 10% of beached fulmars carry more than 0.1g of plastic.
However, according to this international study, partly EU-funded, the OSPAR target was exceeded in 58% of the fulmars studied in the five-year period between 2003-2007. The data come from 1295 beached birds collected by volunteer groups, research institutes and bird rehabilitation centres in different North Sea regions.
On average, around 0.3g of plastic was found in the stomach of each bird – three times the critical level in the target definition. The worst affected region was the English-French Channel, where the threshold was exceeded in 78% of birds.
Longer term monitoring data for the Netherlands goes as far back as the 1980s. The proportion of birds exceeding the 0.1g target decreased from 67% to below 60% during the 2000s, but has remained relatively stable since.
Perhaps more notable is the downward trend in the amount of industrial plastics found in the birds’ stomachs. Improved methods for reducing losses from processing plants and in wastewater treatment may have contributed to this trend, according to the researchers. However, the amount of consumer plastics has increased.
Under OSPAR, there is no deadline for meeting the EcoQO targets, but the MFSD sets a deadline of 2020 for achieving Good Environmental Status. EcoQOs have still to be developed further under the Framework, but could become legally binding. Based on their findings, the researchers say that trying to meet the marine litter target by 2020 could be considered too ambitious.
However, in the longer term it is probably not an unrealistic target as it is almost achieved in the eastern Canadian Arctic, where only 14% of fulmars have been found to carry more than 0.1g of plastic.
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