Major objectives were to provide a comprehensive dataset on beach macro-litter for parts of the southern Baltic Sea and to analyse if the methodology is fully applicable and a suitable monitoring method in the Baltic. We carried out a regular macro litter beach monitoring (OSPAR methodology, 4 time a year) on 35 beaches along the German and Lithuanian Baltic coast over 2-5 years. Additional experiments addressed the subjectivity of the field surveys and spatio-temporal variability on different scales. We observed no seasonality of the data and a monthly compared to a 3-monthly sampling resulted in 3 times higher annual item numbers. Along the Lithuanian coast, the average number of items per survey varied between 138 and 340 and along the German Baltic coast between 7 and 404, with a median value of 47. All data showed a very high spatio-temporal variability. Using the Matrix Scoring Technique we assessed beach litter sources. With 50% tourism and recreation was the most important source. 3D-transport simulations helped to explain the minor role of shipping as a source and, compared to the North Sea, the low numbers of items on German Baltic beaches. Floating litter had a short duration time in the western Baltic Sea and offshore drift dominated. Further, the common regular beach cleanings reduced the potential for local litter accumulation and translocation. We suggest a monitoring system on 14 Baltic beaches in Germany and 2 in Lithuania and provide cost calculations. The analysis of macro-litter in cormorant nesting material and the search for beached dead animals did not show any result. We can conclude that the macro-litter beach monitoring method is less suitable for Baltic beaches and should only serve as a complementary method in combination with others.

Most marine litter monitoring methods used on beaches focus on macro-litter (>25 mm) only and show shortcomings regarding smaller litter classes (<25 mm), especially at Baltic Sea beaches. Therefore, we used a sand rake method developed for large micro- (2–5 mm), and meso- (5–25 mm) litter to quantify the overall pollution status of Baltic Sea beaches and to test if the method is useful in terms of the requirements of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Between July 2017 and October 2019, 197 sand rake method surveys were carried out at 35 regions around the Baltic Sea. In total, 9345 litter pieces were found on an area of 10,271 m2 of which 69.9% were 2–25 mm in size. Artificial polymers (4921 litter pieces) were predominant (mean 52.7% ± 13.3). Abundance of litter was 0.91 pieces/m2 ± 1.50 (median 0.40 pieces/m2). The most common litter were industrial pellets (19.8%), non-identifiable plastic pieces 2–25 mm (17.3%), cigarette butts (15.3%), and paraffin (11.9%). At 15 surveys at the German North Sea island of Sylt the litter abundance ranged from 0.45 pieces/m2 (median) to 0.59 pieces/m2 ± 0.37 (mean). Here, 69.2% of the litter was 2–25 mm in size and paraffin was predominant (69.2%). Beaches show a high pollution level with large micro- and meso-litter (2–25 mm) and our data can serve as a Baltic-wide pollution baseline. In contrast to the naked eye OSPAR method for macro-litter, the sand rake method is generally applicable on all sandy beaches, both urban and remote. This method also allows for the provision of a full spatial pollution pattern and can serve for assessing the effectiveness of marine litter mitigation measures.

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The large southern Baltic lagoons (Curonian, Vistula and Szczecin Lagoon) face a similar challenge, the need for economic, especially touristic development. This development is hampered by poor water quality, namely eutrophication with regular algae blooms and low water transparency and often insufficient bathing water quality. Therefore, beaches and bathing sites, one precondition for tourist development, are often lacking. Using the Curonian Lagoon as case study, we apply a Systems Approach Framework (SAF) and especially an Ecological-Social-Economic (ESE) assessment to analyse, whether it is reasonable to establish new beaches, against the background of an improved sewage treatment. In this systematic, stepwise and participatory Integrated Coastal Zone Management approach, we guide and support municipalities from the issue identification towards the final implementation by developing alternative scenarios, using model simulations and carrying out tourist surveys as well as supporting socio-economic studies. The present state of bathing water quality does allow opening a new bathing site with a beach at the lagoon and one town decided to do so. The socio-economic analyses did show that lagoon water quality and the possibility to go for a swim is not sufficiently important for tourists on the Curonian Spit, that opening a beach would make sense from an economic point of view. However, high lagoon water temperatures may help to extend the summer bathing season and a beach is regarded as additional attraction for tourists. A systematic involvement of stakeholders was imperative in this case study and we provide lessons learnt for a successful participatory process.

As accumulation zones, sandy beaches are temporal sinks for beach wrack and litter, both often seen as nuisances to tourists. Consequently, there is a need for beach management and an enhanced political interest to evaluate their ecosystem services. We applied a new online multidisciplinary assessment approach differentiating between the provision, potential, and flow at German and Lithuanian beaches (Southern Baltic Sea). We selected a set of services and assessed four beach scenarios developed accordingly to common management measures (different beach wrack and litter accumulations). We conducted comparative assessments involving 39 external experts using spread-sheets and workshops, an online survey as well as a combined data-based approach. Results indicated the relative importance of cultural (52.2%), regulating and maintenance (37.4%), and provisioning services (10.4%). Assessed impact scores showed that the removal of beach wrack is not favorable with regard to the overall ecosystem service provision. Contrarily, the removal of litter can increase the service flow significantly. When removing beach wrack, synergies between services should be used, i.e., use of biomass as material or further processing. However, trade-offs prevail between cultural services and the overall provision of beach ecosystem services (i.e., coastal protection and biodiversity). We recommend developing new and innovative beach cleaning techniques and procedures, i.e., different spatio-temporal patterns, e.g., mechanical vs. manually, daily vs. on-demand, whole beach width vs. patches. Our fast and easy-to-apply assessment approach can support decision-making processes within sustainable coastal management allowing us to show and compare the impacts of measures from a holistic ecosystem services perspective.

The first attempt to investigate the marine litter pollution level of the Lithuanian coastal zone was carried out based on different marine litter monitoring methods and according to the lists of identifiable items. The results have proven that plastic is the dominant type of marine litter. It seems that tourism and fishery related marine litter occurrence do not significantly depend on seasonal variations. The outcome of the study will serve as basic information for future inventory of the character of marine pollution, provide the scientifically grounded limit value for Good Environmental Status (GES) assessment in the Lithuanian coastal zone, and will contribute for the enhancement of the ecological status of the south-eastern coasts of the Baltic Sea. Keywords • marine litter • plastics in marine environment • good environmental statusArūnas Balčiūnas (arunas.balciunas@corpi.ku.lt), Nerijus Blažauskas,

Freight handling in EU ports fell by more than 12 % during the global economic crisis in 2008-2009 after almost a decade of continuous growth. The decrease of freight handling in the Klaipeda seaport, the only port in Lithuania, was 6.7 % and happened due to the dominant outward movement of goods (mainly oil products). The Klaipeda seaport, due to its peculiarity, is the only ice-free port in the northern part of Baltic Sea. The present study explores the environmental impact of Klaipeda seaport activities from 2001 to 2011. Moreover, it compares the environmental effectiveness of environmental protection strategies used in the four biggest companies that, in fact, cover about 88 % of total activities (except general cargo) of the seaport. The first group of targeted companies used an environmental protection strategy to implement an ISO 14001-based environmental management system, and the second group selected to follow environmental management practices without certification. The paper analyses the development of the companies' activities in regard to the change of environmental effectiveness. The paper evaluates the pressure of the economic crisis on the companies' activities and its influence on environmental decisions, with particular interest in the ability of different environmental protection systems to resist and handle the expected performance. The study identified a significant decrease in companies' activities during the crisis period. However, the economic activities and environmental effectiveness demonstrated similar short-term tendencies in regard to the environmental strategy selection but differed in long-term perspective.