Support Measures

Integrate monitoring schemes into the management plans of the farms and evaluate them on a regular basis. Install an inventory of all equipment during the life cycle of a farm. It should start with the durable materials like buoys, nets and bags, followed by non-durables. Based on an inventory of the aquaculture gear on a farm, the life spam of the items should be monitored and communicated with producers. Licenses should be renewed only, if integrated monitoring schemes are in place. Integrated monitoring schemes can foster transparency and data about losses of items could be published regularly. This could improve the image of the sector in the public. Offer incentives to those farmers who comply with monitoring efforts. Install a network of drone users or become a part of existing networks to foster the use of drones to better detect plastic patches. Include flexible research and/or investigative monitoring to increase knowledge of specific impacts. Increase the use of new technologies (e.g. remote sensing, FerryBoxes, gliders) and methodologies (e.g. techniques to find microplastics) by better linking monitoring with research. Increase the frequence of data collection: monitoring should not only take place afte a storm but shift towards short-term monitoring, e.g. every 2nd month to get standardized results Monitoring programmes should be targeted and follow defined categories of size, material and durability of the (gear) items; plastic is a priority (e.g. polyethylene). Improve compatibility of datasets among countries or regions (for example, through the standardization of sampling methods and quality assurance of the data) and translating research activities into monitoring (e.g. for litter and noise). Maintain and/or develop a limited number of long-term (fixed-point) monitoring sites to monitor changes in accumulated marine litter on specific spots close to aquaculture farm installations. Foster more integrated cross-disciplinary approaches, e.g. through more coordinated monitoring across sectors. Secure funding of long-term monitoring programmes. Make better use of low-cost platforms.