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Date Published: 20/01/2023
ARCHIVED - Environmentalists collect 900kg of rubbish along southeast coast of Spain
The marine litter was removed from the Region of Murcia, Golfo de Vera and the north of the Alboran Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is notorious for being one of the most polluted in the world and the culmination of four different studies has highlighted this issue. Between 2020 and 2022, more than 900 kilos of rubbish have been collected from the waters between Cabo de Palos and Motril, and 94% of the waste was plastic.
The southeast of the Mediterranean coast is particularly vulnerable to pollution as it’s semi-enclosed and draws huge numbers of tourists each year.
Since 2017, through the support of the LIBERA Project, the Association of Naturalists of the Southeast (ANSE) has been studying the southeastern coasts of the Iberian Peninsula to try to identify and quantify the floating marine litter that is present.
The coasts of the Region of Murcia and the south of Alicante are bearing the brunt, while the Alboran Sea is being routinely swamped by influxes of diluted pollutants from the Atlantic.
The major problem is being caused by microplastics, confirmed by samples of the water taken by LIBERA scientists. These have been detected in both coastal areas and remote beaches, where the currents drag small fragments ashore.
Following the report, ANSE has warned that urgent measures must be taken to stop the massive entry of waste into the Region of Murcia and other waters. From the point of view of environmentalists, the new waste law passed by the Spanish government to limit single-use plastics will play a huge part in reducing pollution.
ANSE’s campaigning doesn’t stop there though and throughout 2022 the environmentalists carried out numerous awareness campaigns involving 170 volunteers. The enormous volume of waste was gathered from the shores of beaches and lakes across the southeast, greatly improving the landscape and reducing the environmental impact on the already delicate eceosytem.
Images: ANSE
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