Non indigenous species were monitored in Danish waters across 9 ports throughout June – September in 2023. This dataset contains the detections of NIS species discovered through conventional morphology (scrapings, settlement plates and sediment) as well as molecular techniques (eDNA barcoding, barcoding). At each port, a total of three locations were sampled using each of the techniques, and detections represent any detection at a given port.

This work was carried out for the Danish Environment Protection Agency (EPA) for an environmental monitoring program in accordance with the EU Marine Strategy Directive. The purpose of the monitoring is to monitor the state of the environment in the areas covered by the Marine Strategy Directive. The Directive is divided into 11 so-called descriptors, each describing different monitoring areas. The entire Danish marine strategy monitoring is described in Denmark's Marine Strategy II, Monitoring Program 2. Overall, this monitoring is the basis for an assessment of the state of the environment for each descriptor. Descriptor 10 of the Directive deals with marine litter, and the descriptor's criterion 1 describes that the composition, quantity, and spatial distribution of marine litter must be assessed. In this context, microplastics (MP) in sediment must be monitored. This report presents the results from the first round of monitoring. It attempts to map the abundance and geographical distribution of MP in sediments in 20 stations, which were all collected in 2024