Local Fishing Boats In Spain Collected 19 Tonnes Of Rubbish From The Sea In 2019

AN initiative in Spain has seen the collection of 584 tonnes of rubbish removed from the Mediterranean and Atlantic since it started in 2018.

The environmentalist project is co-financed by The Coca Cola Foundation and is working with the fishing industry in Spain and Portugal to carry out vital environmental research.

The main objective of the project is to obtain data to investigate what type of rubbish is on the seabed and therefore be able to look for solutions to a big global problem.

Fishermen, sailors and staff who work at Caleta de Vélez port have collected a total of 19 tonnes of rubbish from the sea bed this year, through the project.

The project, which is being run thanks to the collaboration of a number of environmental organisations as well as the Coca Cola Foundation, first started at Caleta port in 2018. Marbella joined the project last year.

In total there are 15 ports and 83 fishing boats across Spain and Portugal involved in the programme.

So far the results of the research show that the majority of rubbish is plastic. Specifically, 84 per cent of the rubbish collected by the fishing industry is plastic and five per cent is metal. Eighty per cent of the total comes from land.

Periodic analysis of the rubbish is carried out using an application designed by Marnoba. The information is sent to Spain’s Ministry for the Environment as well as uploaded onto the Marnoba and Mares Circulares websites – two of the participating environmental organisations.

More than 5,000 volunteers across 170 organisations have participated in the project and a total of 584 tonnes of rubbish have been removed from the Mediterranean and Atlantic since it started in 2018.

Spokesperson, Mari Carmen Navas, in charge of the Caleta de Vélez fishing fleet said that the initiative was fundamental and that with it, proof that the majority of the rubbish doesn’t come from the fishing industry, but from land sources.

José Muñoz, one of the sailors involved in the project added “If we don’t do it who is going to? Each boat brings back what it can,”

As Euro Weekly News understands, the boat which brought back the largest amount of rubbish to Caleta de Vélez port, brought a hefty 11 tonnes, in 2018.