During the first litter monitoring on Jan Mayen, it was noticable that much of the found litter was fishery litter. We found 104 floats or pieces of floats, bits of net (26), tangled nets (20) and ropes (43) on the beach.
In remote regions such as the Arctic, some beaches are literally strewn with large pieces of litter such as nets, buoys, household plastics and other waste. This raises all kinds of questions. How can so much marine litter end up here? What is it exactly? How does it find its way into the ocean? And where does it come from? One could also wonder whether there is a link to certain economic activities in Svalbard, or whether the litter has come from further afield. If so, from where and how?