OSPAR beach litter monitoring in the Netherlands : update 2022

Marine litter causing substantial socio-economic and ecological harm, has been identified as a major global environmental problem. Due to ingestion and entanglement it is most likely harmful for many marine species. Quantitative information about marine litter in the Dutch North Sea and on the coastline is required for setting up Dutch litter reduction measures for OSPAR and MSFD; and to assess the effectiveness of these programmes of measures.

In the year 2000, The Netherlands was one of the first countries to start with the monitoring of beach litter. This report provides an annual update of Dutch beach litter monitoring data and analysis results for the periods 2020-2022 (status analysis) and 2017-2022 (trend analysis), respectively. The statistical analysis was conducted in-line with the revised OSPAR CEMP guidelines and using the litteR software.