Using Northern fulmars as an ecological monitor of marine litter in line with indicators set for MSFD descriptor 10 - Update 2013

The aim of this project is to provide UK authorities with monitoring data required under OSPAR and EU-MSFD agreements to reach acceptable ecological quality of the marine environment in terms of marine debris. The (undated) OSPAR target is that less than 10% of fulmars may exceed a critical level of 0.1 gram of plastic in the stomach. Regional aims for the short term target of Good Environmental Status in the European MSFD by the year 2020 still have to be agreed, but mostly tend to be worded in terms of 'measurabl...