ML-REPAIR

About the ML-REPAIR Project

The Adriatic Sea is a semi-closed pool with slow streams, making it vulnerable to pollution.

Marine Litter (ML) is defined as any solid, manufactured or processed solid material discharged into the marine and coastal environment. The prevailing part of marine waste consists of plastic materials. Specifically, micro-plastics is an increasing cause for concern for the degradation of the marine and coastal ecosystems, potentially endangering the functionality of the ecosystem itself and reducing the quality of coastal waters for fishing and tourism. Furthermore, cross-border effects are already known in marine litter, with a floating sea layer of waste that travels regardless of the state / administrative boundaries of a country. Therefore, marine litter issues require a common approach of different countries and their joint efforts to find a proper and appropriate solution and approach.

The ML-REPAIR project is a continuation of the DeFishGear-Derelict Fishing Gear Management System project in the Adriatic Region. In research conducted during the DeFishGear (DFG) project, the tourism sector has shown a strong contribution to the creation of marine litter while the fisheries sector is considered to be an important intermediary in the process of reducing marine litter. As identified in the DFG project, although local communities, coastal tourism and the fisheries sector contribute to the problem of marine litter, they can also be part of the solution. The fishing sector has great potential in tackling ship waste issues, both in terms of prevention and awareness-raising about the proper disposal of outdated fishing gear and reducing the existing amount of marine litter by participating in initiatives called  'fishing for litter' (FFL).

Within the ML-REPAIR project, activities are carried out in Croatia and Italy, and the core of the project's activities is to involve the predefined target groups of the project (fishermen and fishing associations/cooperatives, local communities and the younger population, tourism sector, public administration bodies and the FLAGs and LAGs) through the implementation of activities related to:

• investigating new educational tools to encourage positive change in attitudes and behaviour towards marine litter and generally pollution among future generations in the local community/among the younger population and in fishing communities/professional associations / cooperatives;
• raising the awareness of tourists on coastal areas, thus stimulating the sustainable growth of the tourism sector;
• providing data and innovative tools to decision-makers (public administration bodies), meeting the need for better understanding of the obstacles that need to be removed in order to launch more comprehensive transboundary initiatives to establish a proper marine litter management system;
• reducing marine litter through a participatory approach to the fisheries sector; improving cooperation between science and fisheries-related organizations, including the Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAGs);
• consolidating cross-border co-operation, exchanging knowledge and reducing the gap between different approaches to marine litter issues;
• reduction and prevention of pollution of the sea, which in the long term will improve the quality of the Adriatic Sea ecosystem;
• evaluation of the potential contribution of the activities of the so-called 'fishing for litter' (FfL) to reduce the occurrence of micro-plastic;
• monitoring of the situation in the Natura 2000 area in terms of the presence of marine litter and its impacts.