Although monitoring approaches have already been developed to measure marine litter in different compartments in compliance with the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) obligations, seafloor and floating litter still represent important challenges. Moreover, the issue of detecting and mapping hotspots is still lacking proper systems that can be applied by those in charge of implementing measures and there is a strong need to develop tools and technologies to detect and/or predict areas with a high accumulation of marine debris. These concerns also apply to riverine litter. At this regard, having proper technologies will facilitate the planning and executions of marine litter retrieval operations in hotspots when the potential impact of accumulated litter advises it.
This session aims to review and discuss new technologies for tracking and detection of hotspots and monitoring in those compartments that are most difficult to access. The speakers will provide key contents and information on advantages and limitations of different approaches and facilitate further discussion with the audience on main gaps and needs and on the necessary steps for these new technologies to be transferred and used by competent authorities in complementing monitoring plans and measures to be implemented.
