The Arctic Marine Litter Project, run by Wouter Jan Strietman from Wageningen Economic Research and Martine van den Heuvel-Greve from Wageningen Marine Research at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, researches the specifics of marine litter in the Arctic, and has conducted studies on litter gathered from beaches in Svalbard, Jan Mayen, Greenland and now Iceland.
The workshop in Ísafjörður was held with items gathered from beaches in the Westfjords. Coastal and Marine Management students went to Strandir in the east part of the Westfjords and collected samples for the workshop.
In addition to our Coastal Studies students’ local institutions and individuals were involved in the workshop. The Marine and Freshwater Research Institute of Iceland branch observes and advises students from Menntaskólinn á Ísafirði. The local high school joined the workshop to identify and sort the litter along with representatives from Ísafjarðarbær Municipality and the Environment Agency of Iceland.
More information about the Arctic Marine Litter project is available here.