Indicator: Plastic waste in the North Sea | Umweltbundesamt

At a glance

• Since studies began, the stomachs of 88 % to 97 % beached fulmars have been found to contain plastics.
• Around 48 % of beached fulmars on the North Sea coasts have more than 0.1 grammes of plastic in their stomachs.
• The target set by the ⁠OSPAR⁠ convention is to reduce this to a maximum of 10 %. However, it may take a long time to reach this target.
• Large quantities of plastic waste still end up in the oceans, where plastic degrades very slowly.

Environmental importance

While 9-14 million tons of plastic waste ended up in the oceans in 2016, entries are expected to triple to 23-27 million tons by 2040. Garbage particles are mistaken for food by animals and, once consumed, can injure and clog their digestive organs, which can lead to the death of the animals. To date, interactions with waste have been described for 4,076 marine species of animals, plants, and microorganisms. The most prominent effects are the ingestion of and entanglement in pieces of waste. While entanglement in marine litter leads to visible injuries and even death, the consequences of ingesting plastic litter often remain invisible. These include internal injuries, blockages, and starvation despite a supposedly full stomach.

For monitoring purposes, the fulmar has been established as an indicator species in the North Sea. This seabird has a wide distribution and feeds exclusively at the open sea. There, he confuses floating plastic parts with food particles and accumulates them in his stomach for several weeks. So far no species has been identified for the Baltic Sea which can be used for similar studies. Therefore no comparable information for the Baltic Sea is available for the time being.

Assessing the development

The majority of the fulmars found dead on the beaches of the German North Sea coast have plastic waste in their stomachs. The average quantity of plastic swallowed in recent years has declined slightly, as well as the share of animals with more than 0.1 g of plastic in their stomach. In the current 5-year period (2019–2023), 89 % of the 93 fulmars studied in Germany had plastic in their stomachs, with 48 % of fulmars exceeding the critical level of 0.1 grams.

Germany has signed the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (⁠OSPAR⁠). In 2008 the Contracting Parties to OSPAR decided as one of its so-called Ecological Quality Objective (EcoQO) that the percentage of beached fulmars having more than 0.1 g of plastic in their stomachs should be 10 % at the maximum. This value was derived from fulmars in the relatively unpolluted Canadian Arctic.

Large quantities of plastic waste are still entering the seas and plastics take a very long time to break down. Therefore it can be expected, that the OSPAR target can only be achieved in the long term. An important instrument for reducing further inputs and existing quantities of marine litter in the Northeast Atlantic is the 2. OSPAR Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter adopted in 2022. It addresses a series of measures related to the relevant sea- and land-based sources and on opportunities for the removal of marine litter and awareness raising.

Methodology

The indicator is based on studies of beached (dead) fulmars on the North Sea coasts of Germany (south-east North Sea). In the laboratory, various parameters are then determined regarding the state of health and the possible cause of death. The stomach contents are then examined. Then the percentage of fulmars that have more than 0.1 grammes of plastic in their stomach is calculated. As the values sometimes greatly deal between years, the indicator is calculated as the average of the last five years (Guse et al. 2012, in German only). In the other countries bordering the North Sea, the plastic contamination of fulmars is also determined using the same standardised method in order to be able to compare the development between the regions.

More detailed information: 'Müll im Meer' (in German only).