EMODnet Chemistry presented at MARLICE forum
EMODnet Chemistry was featured in the opening presentation of the MARLICE forum, held in Tenerife, Canary Islands, from 19 to 21 May. MARLICE is an international forum on Marine Litter and the Circular Economy, aimed at sharing scientific knowledge and technologies to help stakeholders find solutions to marine litter pollution. Preventing and reducing the amount of waste reaching the marine environment and its impact is the objective of the Spanish Association of Marine Garbage (AEBAM), which has organised the forum since its first edition in 2019.
Matteo Vinci, data steward at OGS, which coordinates EMODnet Chemistry, also participated in the session dedicated to new technologies and AI for monitoring marine litter. He shared the project’s long-standing experience in managing marine litter data. Precisely, Vinci explained EMODnet Chemistry workflows and quality controls for managing macrolitter data collected on beaches and the seafloor via fish trawl surveys, as well as microlitter data collected in marine sediment and at the water surface.
He emphasised that over 10 years of activity, the project has shown that agreed and harmonised formats and guidelines, based on best practices and protocols from established communities, play a crucial role in producing trustworthy information on marine litter and the effectiveness of current mitigation measures. He also mentioned some results the project has achieved at European and global levels, including use cases regarding beach litter data. These have been used to establish baselines and threshold values and to assess trends in waste concentration and distribution along the European coastline. Find more about the EMODnet Chemistry use cases on the EMODnet Portal.
He concluded his presentation with lessons learned from the past and a look to the future. Data management can provide a harmonised common framework for data reporting, but it cannot resolve issues arising from non-comparable monitoring methods. The EMODnet Chemistry partnership will continue productive collaborations with the European Commission Joint Research Centre, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) Technical Group on Marine Litter (TGML) and global stakeholders. While maintaining and improving consolidated workflows based on official monitoring guidelines, the project will also test the management system for seafloor macrolitter using images and videos, and integrate it with other visual methods, such as those employed by scuba divers.
“What an inspiring working week at the MARLICE Conference 2026!” Vinci reported from Tenerife, adding: “It was an honour to be invited as a keynote speaker to present ten years of the EMODnet Chemistry consortium and future perspectives. It was a great opportunity to contribute to such an important international event, connecting stakeholders from the public and private sectors, NGOs, and many other communities.”
“What an inspiring working week at the MARLICE Conference 2026!” Vinci reported from Tenerife and continued, “It was an honour to be invited as a keynote speaker to present ten years of the EMODnet Chemistry consortium and future perspectives. It was a great opportunity to contribute to such an important international event, connecting stakeholders from the public and private sectors, NGOs, and many other communities.”
— Matteo Vinci, National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS)
For more information, view the presentation: EMODnet Chemistry, the experience of ten years of marine litter data management to support the MSFD descriptor 10 and the fruitful interaction with the MSFD TGML.