A little less plastics found in fulmar stomachs in 2016

Wageningen Marine Research has published its annual report on the abundance of plastics in stomachs of northern fulmars found beached in the Netherlands. This report evaluates data up to 2016. The slow improvement, first observed last year, has continued.
The observed decrease is statistically significant, but still 91% of beached fulmars has plastic in the stomach. The number of items per bird averages at 22.3 particles with a mass of 0.28 gram. The threshold value of 0.1 gram plastic in the stomach was exceeded by 50% of the fulmars. Policy makers have agreed that, on the long term, no more than 10% of fulmars may exceed the threshold (News Item WUR, 27 October 2017).
Click here for the news item.
Click here for the report (2.45 MB).
Click here for more information about the NVC Project PUMA: the end of packaging as an environmental issue. You are welcome to join us for the next project meeting on 4 April 2018.

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