EU Member States agreed on new limits for litter allowed on the seafloor – an essential step towards reducing marine pollution and the first effort to set such thresholds.

Under the new rules, areas where seafloor litter is measured using trawl surveys must show no increase in the amount of litter over time. In areas monitored visually, there must be no more than one litter item per 1,000 square metres. Current assessments will focus on waters up to a depth of 200 metres. 

Marine litter, especially plastic pollution, is one of the most serious environmental issues facing the world’s oceans. It threatens marine wildlife, harms coastal tourism, fisheries, and aquaculture, and poses risks to human health and well-being.  

Much of the litter found on beaches or floating at the surface eventually sinks to the seabed. Until now, most data on seafloor litter came from waste accidentally collected in fishing nets during bottom trawling. Because trawl gear varies across Europe, this data was unreliable and difficult to compare. Many areas also cannot be monitored with trawls, making new visual and image-based methods essential.  

Next steps

To comply with the new thresholds, Member States need to implement appropriate measures in their marine strategies, required under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).

These strategies cover issues such as biodiversity protection and the reduction of all forms of marine pollution.

Technical work will continue in the coming years, including the possibility of setting additional limits for the most harmful types of litter and extending monitoring to deeper waters. 

Background

These threshold values were developed by the Technical Group on Marine Litter under the MSFD. They were endorsed by EU marine directors on 27-28 November at a meeting chaired by the Danish Presidency of the Council.

This initiative supports the Zero Pollution Action Plan. It follows the EU’s earlier decision to establish a threshold for coastline litter, allowing no more than 20 litter items per 100 metres of coastline. 

The 2008 Marine Strategy Framework Directive aims to ensure the achievement of good environmental status in all EU marine waters so that European seas and oceans are clean, healthy and productive, and that the use of marine resources is sustainable.

As announced in the EU Water Resilience Strategy, the MSFD will be revised to protect the marine environment better, simplify its implementation, and reduce administrative burden, in parallel with the development of an Ocean Act under the European Ocean Pact.

The revision of the MSFD will also consider how to strengthen the threshold values and ensure their effective implementation.

More information 

Marine environment | European Commission

Commission evaluates sea protection and bathing water quality laws | European Commission

Technical document: Proposal for EU seafloor threshold values

European Ocean Pact | European Commission

MSFD Technical Group on Marine Litter | Marine Strategy Framework Directive – Competence Centre