SNS Fulmar study report: SKAGERRAK 2002-21

• Main Authors: Franeker, Jan A., Kühn, Susanne, Meijboom, André, Bittner, Oliver
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Wageningen Marine Research 2021
• Subjects: Life Science; Norway; Fulmar; Fulmarus glacialis
• Online Access: https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/sns-fulmar-study-report-skagerrak-2002-21; https://doi.org/10.18174/556442

This document is an illustrated report for the surveyors in the monitoring program of plastics particles in stomachs of beached northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) in the north of Denmark and the south of Norway. It contains a report on 20 years of data collected since the start of the Save the North Sea (SNS) project in 2002 until about July 2021. As an illustration of the current situation photos are provided of stomach contents of all individual birds over the recent 5-year period 2017-2021. Data indicate a decrease in plastic mass in the Skagerrak since 2002, but the pattern is statistically insignificant. However, such data do contribute to the statistically significant decrease recently calculated for the total of the North Sea. Lower sample sizes within a specific area or period are not a major problem in the larger monitoring program.