Monitoring plastic ingestion by the northern fulmar Fulmarus glacialis in the North Sea

► Trends in marine debris can be monitored by plastics in stomachs of seabirds. ► In the North Sea 95% of Fulmars has plastic in the stomach (35 particles; 0.31 g). ► The policy target is that less than 10% of Fulmars has over 0.1 g of plastic. ► Currently 58% of North Sea fulmars exceeds the 0.1 g critical limit. ► Over the past 30 years industrial plastics decreased and user plastic increased.