Cleaning Up The Mediterranean Sea

A SPANISH non-governmental organisation (NGO) has retrieved over four tonnes of waste out of the Mediterranean Sea.

The waste removal is part of a marine clean-up operation in which Marine Watchers Network Red de Vigilantes Marinos uses volunteers and divers to clean up seabeds and beaches. It also serves as data collection to better understand marine litter.

Their clean-up event in June saw over 2,000 volunteers collect between four and five tonnes of litter and waste, including tyres and a sink, EuroNews.Green reports.

The group originally started in 2016. “It was just a little project among divers who were friends who were in love with the ocean,” said Laura Corredor, a marine biologist and professional diver who works with Marine Watchers Network.

“It was really little five years ago and with years and a lot of volunteers now we are a little bit bigger.”

An estimated 150 tonnes of plastics have been dumped into the world’s oceans, and 4.6 – 12.7 million tonnes are still being added each year. Laura says that Marine Watchers is fed up with seeing the damage this causes to ecosystems and animals.

“Big animals like turtles, dolphins, seals, whales or sharks that suffer from ingestion of marine litter, especially plastic but not only that,” she explains.

“A plastic or gauze net can suffocate a coral. It is not only animals dying, it is full ecosystems dying. Normal people don’t understand that part. They don’t understand it is about the full ecosystem.

“Sometimes I find myself talking to people that say…it is just one turtle but they don’t know the damage that is caused to the environment. It is not only one turtle dying or 100 turtles dying, it damages the environment.”

This news comes as The Blue Path of the Malaga Provincial Council was presented yesterday, June 18, as the Malaga Provincial Council’s star commitment to the environment and sustainability that will bring together the tourist, heritage and cultural offer linked to the maritime world of the province of Malaga.