AQUA-LIT PROJECT: HOW CAN THE AQUACULTURE SECTOR CONTRIBUTE TO REDUCING MARINE LITTER IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA?

, Vidal Maria, Alomar Carmen, Deudero Salud.

Marine litter has multiple sources based both at sea and land. Amongst these sources, aquaculture can contribute to the generation of marine litter. From a bibliographic research on scientific papers, it has been observed that between 4.08% and 12.33% of the items found in beaches and 14.75% of seafloor marine litter is related to aquaculture practices (Sandra et al., 2020). Given that aquaculture is expected to increase substantially during the next 10 years, it is important to gather information in the three main waste management components related to the non-organic residues: (1) prevention and reduction, (2) monitoring and quantification, (3) removal and recycling. Consequently, the aim of this study is to present lessons learnt, innovative solutions and currently applied best practices on the mentioned waste management components, gathered during an interactive Learning Lab, which involved 16 Spanish representatives of multiple types of aquaculture stakeholders of the Mediterranean Sea basin. Preliminary results show that, for most of the aquaculture stakeholders, needs regarding non-organic litter management at a short-term are related to creating synergies among all the stakeholders for a common understanding of aquaculture marine litter quantification. At a mid-term, some of the recommendations included making efforts in eco-design of the gear and to enforce the current policies, among others. Finally, innovation in automated waste management collection systems and fostering incentives in following environmental certification including marine litter in the criteria, were also highlighted from a long-term point of view. All this information has contributed to assess and evaluate the potential future impacts of the aquaculture sector in the marine ecosystems regarding the non-organic marine litter. The outcomes will be transferred to the sector by creating a toolbox available through different platforms. Acknowledgments: This project has received funding from the European Union's under grant agreement EASME/EMFF/2017/1.2.1.12/S2/04/S12.789391.

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