Cefas raised awareness of CleanAtlantic on their Marine Litter stand at The Commonwealth Marine Science Event, which was held at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in Southampton on the 9th April.  The event was a celebration of marine science across the commonwealth attended by High Commissioners from across the Commonwealth, ahead of next weeks Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, where member states will gather in London to agree further global measures to protect our oceans.  The event was hosted by DEFRA and Theresa Coffey, the environment minister gave an opening speech highlighting Marine Litter as a global concern, effecting all oceans of the world posing environmental, economic, and social problems.

The Marine Litter stand displayed Cefas scientific capabilities and showcased CleanAtlantic. Cefas have been longstanding in monitoring and collecting seafloor litter data for over 25 years and this data has been pivotal in influencing policy.  The stand showed examples of seafloor and beach litter as well as single use disposables and different types of plastics.  In the afternoon members of the public and school children were invited and Cefas got the children sorting out rubbish and putting it in the right bin and thinking of how they could reduce it so it didn’t end up in the wrong place and become marine litter. A CleanAtlantic poster was displayed and Cefas discussed the main work packages and aims of the project  which are to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Atlantic Area by improving capabilities to monitor, prevent and remove (macro) marine litter.