Plastic pollution tendencies of the Barents Sea and adjacent waters

• Published in: Arctic and North
• Main Authors: Ludmila Sokolova, Konstantin Sokolov, Galina Kharitonova
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Russian
• Published: Northern Arctic Federal University 2018
• Subjects: The Barents Sea; plastic pollution; climate change; maritime activities; ecological and economic damage; circular economy; Social Sciences; H; Arctic; Barents Sea; Arctic Council; Climate change
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.17238/issn2221-2698.2018.32.121; https://doaj.org/article/63e0fa4c981e4534a7af70c471b25cec

The article represents the analysis of the plastic pollution of water areas and coasts of the Barents Sea and adjacent waters based on foreign and Russian studies. The authors consider the influence of various factors, including climate change in the Arctic. The threat to various types of marine activities and the marine ecosystem from plastic pollution is evaluated. The emphasis is on the existing and potential damage to industrial fisheries in the Barents Sea and adjacent waters. An analysis of the regulatory and organizational and economic mechanisms for preventing plastic pollution of the Arctic seas and coasts of the Arctic Council member states and practices of their application is carried out. Particular attention is paid to the control and supervision over litter collection onboard and the efficiency of its disposal after delivery to the land. To improve the legal regulation of handling waste of production and consumption, it is justified to adopt the draft federal law “On secondary material resources”; to create a financial platform for the circular economy in analogy with the European Union and to develop technologies to increase the life cycle and reuse of goods made of plastic. To supplement to the activities of the “State Program Social and Economic Development of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation” and the state programs for social and economic development of the Arctic, it is proposed to include various types of plastic in the list of hazardous pollutants of water areas and coasts of the Russian Arctic and to build facilities for processing of plastic wastes from fishing enterprises in the Arctic. Also, the regional authorities should encourage volunteering for cleaning coasts of the Barents Sea from garbage, incl. plastic.