Newly launched Marine LitterWatch App: download now!
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The PERSEUS project has been working closely with the European Environmental Agency (EEA) on the issue of marine litter as it is one of the main threats to the health of our seas. The EEA has just launched a Marine LitterWatch (MLW) mobile phone app, especially made for citizens so they can lend a hand to scientists in the collection and monitoring of marine litter.

The MLW app was developed by the EEA in collaboration with the Marine Conservation Society, the Institute for Water of the Republic of Slovenia, the North Sea Foundation and the PERSEUS FP7 research project.

The app allows people to carry out beach surveys using a European master list of marine litter items. These items are commonly found on Europe’s beaches, for example, various plastic items, cigarette butts, bottles, fishing materials, etc. Data on the litter found is submitted through the app to a public central database hosted by the EEA. From this database, data can be retrieved and used in other databases and/ or further disseminated into a wider range of products (e.g. survey reports and maps). Data can also be visualised through the EEA web site and embedded in other web pages or applications.

Initially, the MLW has been developed for Android devices. It was tested during the summer 2013 and is now available to all European citizens. It can be downloaded, free of charge, from the Google app store.

The iPhone version is expected during spring next year.

For more information, please contact marinelitterwatch@eea.europa.eu

See more on PERSEUS’s citizen science work on Marine Litter.