INDICIT II Activity 5 “Synergies with other (inter)national programs” main objective is to foster the interaction with expert groups and authorities in order to provide accurate assessments in line with the European Commission and the RSCs’ directives related to impacts of marine litter.
Activity 5 aims to facilitate the flow of the gained expertise (networks, knowledge, data, protocols and other tools) within INDICIT and pursued in INDICIT-II, to other projects, which may need further information such as on marine fauna’s behaviour, spatial distribution and exposure to anthropogenic debris.
In this way, synergy with other projects can enable the development of integrated tools, a better spatial quantification of anthropogenic risks to marine fauna and a more accurate calculation of distance from Good Environmental Status.
Plastic Busters MPAs
http://plasticbusters.unisi.it/
Plastic Busters MPAs (2018-2022) is an Interreg Med funded project aiming to maintain biodiversity and preserve natural ecosystems in pelagic and coastal marine protected areas by consolidating Mediterranean efforts against marine litter.
The collaboration with this project concerns the impact of marine litter ingestion on the health of sea turtles. It aims at evaluating the relationships between the quantity of ingested litter and the individual’s toxicological status.
Life EuroTurtles and Life MedTurtles
https://www.euroturtles.eu/
Life Euroturtles (2016-2021) and Life Medturtles (2019-2023) projects aim to improve the conservation status of the EU populations of the Habitats Directive priority sea turtle species Caretta caretta and Chelonia mydas.
The collaboration targets the dissemination of tools (e.g., protocols) in complementary networks and the sharing of data in the Adriatic Sea region. The objective is also to share data and protocols on D10C4- Entanglement, and share knowledge on the participatory involvement of fishermen in the conservation of sea turtles.
MEDREGION
https://medregion.eu/
MEDREGION (2019-2021) project’s purpose is to support the competent authorities of the MSs by addressing their cooperation needs to implement the MSFD.
A close collaboration is established with this project in the framework of the D10C4 criterion (entanglement).
CLEAN ATLANTIC
http://www.cleanatlantic.eu/
CleanAtlantic (2017-2020) aims to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Atlantic Area by improving capabilities to monitor, prevent and remove (macro) marine litter.
The collaboration aims to improve the monitoring of litter impacts especially in the OSPAR area, by sharing spatial data and respective results on litter and fauna distribution in order to better highlight risky areas. INDICIT II shares tools for dissemination among Clean Atlantic stakeholders, whereas Clean Atlantic can help to increase the network in the OSPAR area
MISTIC SEAS III
https://misticseas3.com/en
Mistic Seas III (2019-2021)’s objective is to address the assessment of the environmental status of the marine environment, based on Descriptor 4 (D4, food webs) of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), trophic networks, which are the set of food chains of an ecosystem, in Macaronesia sub-region (Azores, Madeira and Canary Islands), following the criteria set by the European Commission.
The purpose of the collaboration is to better understand the litter impacts on the individuals’ health and to gain knowledge on the body condition of wild living loggerheads captured at sea during the Mistic Seas surveys, by sharing knowledge and data.
COMMON
http://www.enicbcmed.eu/fr/projects/common
Common project (2019-2022)’s specific objective is to enhance the capacity of public authorities in the 5 selected areas to plan for sustainable management, use and monitoring of marine litter sources, treatment and consequences, employing an effective participatory approach involving relevant stakeholders and local communities.
INDICIT II collaborates with this project in order to share information on the development of litter impact indicators and the influence of management measures of marine litter on impacts on marine fauna.