HELCOM Guidelines for monitoring beach litter.

Abstract

Litter on the coastline is one of the most obvious signs of marine litter. Surveys of litter on the beach allow for a detailed evaluation of litter in terms of amounts and composition. Its strength lies in the provision of information on potential harm to marine biota and ecosystems as well as social harm (aesthetic value, economic costs, hazard to human health) and, to some extent, on sources of litter and the potential effectiveness of management and measures applied. 1.2 Purpose and aims Monitoring of the number of litter items per 100 m beach segment provides information on the status both of spatial and temporal distribution of marine beach litter along the coast of the Baltic Sea area. The aim is to provide spatiotemporal information for detection of short-term status and long-term trends and to ensure that the data is compatible for the HELCOM pre-core indicator ‘Beach litter’ (STATE & CONSERVATION 5-2016, document 4J-27).