Proceedings of the Untangled symposium: - WSPA

1PrefaceUntangled was the first ever global symposium dedicatedto identifying the major problems that marine debrispresents to the welfare of animals and to seekinganimal-focused solutions. Held from 4-6 December2012 at the Marriott Biscayne Bay hotel in Miami,Florida, the symposium was organised and hosted bythe World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA)with the support and endorsement of the United NationsEnvironment Programme (UNEP). Untangled wasattended by over 60 experts from 20 countries, includingparticipants from governments, inter-governmentalorganisations, non-profit organisations, academiaand the fishing and plastics industries.These proceedings include: a summary of the topic,event and top level conclusions; an overview of thesessions; an outline of workshop outcomes anddiscussions; and speakers’ abstracts. This documentintends to provide delegates and other interested partieswith details of the analysis which took place at thesymposium in order to identify the key animal welfareproblems caused by marine debris, and which alloweddelegates to share and explore some of the mostpractical and positive solutions to these problems.WSPA wishes to thank all symposium delegates fortheir attendance, their enthusiasm and for contributingtheir valuable knowledge and expertise to create aproductive and successful action-orientated event.One of WSPA’s primary objectives in hosting Untangledwas to understand and prioritise the animal-focusedproblems of, and solutions to, marine debris in orderto inform plans for a new campaign on this issue, andthis objective was certainly achieved. It is WSPA’s hopeand belief that the event and these proceedings willalso prove useful for delegates and other stakeholdersinvolved in tackling the complex global problem ofmarine debris, and seeking to protect the animalsaffected by it.5