The MAELSTROM Working Group on Marine Litter Management (WG-MLM) is a strategic network-building, knowledge-gathering initiative to connect expertise from various EU funded research projects to better grasp the state of the art and understand research priorities to tackle the Marine Litter (ML) issue in a holistic and comprehensive manner. The WG-MLM brings together 27 members from 18 different institutions across 8 countries and is coordinated by CIIMAR and CNR-ISMAR. This group was established as a means for renowned experts to share their experience and expertise from the theoretical and practical application of ML research and gather insights on the main knowledge gaps, the types of research needed to address them, the management strategies including what has worked and what needs further development, and what aspects should be prioritized in current and new policies and directives.

The focus of the WG-MLM is across three primary pillars: Science-Society-Policy, Marine Litter Monitoring & Detection, and Marine Litter Removal & Recycling. With this perspective, the main goal is to produce specific, robust, and actionable recommendations, mainly directed at policymakers and managers at the European and international level for e.g. the European Commission and the EU Plastics Strategy and the UNEP INC-J Global Plastics Treaty. The outcomes will also be useful for decision-makers of all levels, in particular local and regional actors trying to implement solutions, public entities, as well as the scientific community, and anyone looking to know more about the state of the art regarding ML across our three chosen pillars, where efforts should be directed, and what are the potential pathways to sustainable solutions.

What do we expect from the WG-MLM? Since its Kick-Off meeting on 8th August, the WG-MLM has been busy facilitating interdisciplinary discussions, consolidating scientific knowledge, and providing expert advice to inform policy, guide future research directions, and identify feasible, cost-effective, sustainable ML management options. So far, they have been working collaboratively through digital meetings and online documents. The goal is to produce at least two useful and impactful publications for policymakers and the academic community. The WG-MLM will host a hybrid workshop on 20^th November as a side event to the MAELSTROM Final Conference in Porto on 21^st – 22^nd November, during which the members will work together to finalize the outputs and prepare them for presentation and dissemination.

Stay tuned! More to come from the WG-MLM soon!