OSPAR Beach Litter Monitoring in the Netherlands. Update 2023. Part I: Status and Trends

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 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 2021-2023 (status analysis) and 2018-2023 (trend analysis), respectively. The statistical analysis was conducted in-line with the revised OSPAR CEMP guidelines and using the litteR software. From this update onwards, the Methods for beach litter monitoring and Results (Status and Trends) are no longer combined in one report, but presented in two separate reports. This report is part I: Status and Trends.