Water pollution
QUANTA PLASTICA FINISCE NEL MEDITERRANEO?
According to information from the EU Neighbors South, the portal of the European regional communication program, approximately 570,000 tons of plastic end up in the Mediterranean Sea each year. This amount is equivalent to the weight of over 50 Eiffel Towers.
In 30 years, we could have more plastic than fish in the sea, with enormous consequences for our health, as we risk literally consuming it due to the presence of microplastics already found in our plates.
WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF HYDROCARBONS SPILLS?
The chimical pollution resulting from hydrocarbon spills causes direct problems for the ecosystem, as well as an "asphyxiation" effect on the oxygen levels in the water.
Currently, interventions are mainly conducted in cases of major environmental accidents or to prevent damage to large vassel. However,, there are various situations where pollution silently contaminates our seas, "drop by drop", especially during the tourist season.
AND WHAT IF LIFE IN OUR SEA DIES TOO?
Marine habitats are becoming increasingly fragile.
The causes are climate change, the presence of "alien" species that attack and weaken our native communities, brought to our sea by vassels that come from other territories, the intensive expoloitation of marine resources, the aforementioned issues related to plastics and hydrocarbons and the pressure of human activities in sensitive marine areas.
Plastics in the sea
Bottles, food packaging, fishing nets, cigarette butts and microplastics that end up in our waters every day.
We must stop the problem at its source by changing our production and consumption styles.
In the meantime, we need contribute to removing plastics, and especially microplastics, from the water: tiny fragments that are misteken for food by fish, which then insgest them, putting their lives at risk and potentially ending up on our plates. In fact, an Australian study revealed that every week we risk eating the equivalent of 1 credit card of plastic.
This become even more alarming when we consider that miscroplastics in the Mediterranean Sea are projected to increase by 300% by 2025.
DATA YOU NEED TO KNOW
In the Mediterranean, 570.000 tons of plastic end up in the sea every year,which is equivalent of 500 Eiffel Towers All this plastic, which ends up in the sea, literally comes back to us. In fact, an Australian study has revealed that every week we risk consuming the equivalent of one credit card's worth of plastic. This is because our seas are invaded by plastic waste, and even more dangerously, by microplastics, which are fragments measuring up to 5 mm in diameter. In certain areas of the Mediterranean, the quantity of microplastics has increased by 80% between September 2019 and May 2022.
Oil spills
The iridescence we see in the water is just a symptom. In the summer season, “black drops” enter our waters every day.
It is only discussed in the case of serious environmental accidents but there is a continuous and constant risk of hydrocarbon spills, especially in the summer season and even from small vassel.
Refueling, cleaning bilge water and boat engine maintenance, for every boat, can accidentally lead to hydrocarbon spills with devastating consequences for water oxygenation and its marine life.
DATA YOU NEED TO KNOW
Every year, the Mediterranean Sea is subjected to hydrocarbon spills of approximately 600.000 tons. Environmental accidents that have occured in Italy in the last 30 years have resulted in the release of aroung 272.000 tons of oil into the sea, causing disastrous consequences for our natural habitats and the oxygenation of the waters.
But in addition to environmental accidents, even the "operational activities" of vassels, including small ones, can risk releasing hydrocarbons. The continuous release of individual droplets of hydrocarbons over the years has been causing severe negative effects on warter oxygenation and directly impacting the animal and plastic species that inhabit it.
Fragile habitats
There are over 30 endemic species in the Mediterranean, such as the common dolphin, which we risk losing by the end of the century.
The impoverishment of the natural habitat due to human pressure, from climate change to plastic pollution, from chemical contamination to industrial waste, is compromising the health of all living species and consequently, the ecosystem services they offer us for our very survival.
One of the most important marine plants in the Mediterranean, Posidonia oceanica is regressing everywhere in Italy: in the last 50 years its presence in our sea has decreased by over 30%.
DATA YOU NEED TO KNOW
Although it occupies only about 0.82% of the world's oceans, the Mediterranean Sea is a biodiversity hotspot with 7.5% of all marine species and 94 habitat types. Biodiversity, which is highest in coastal areas, but unfortunately, its highly vulnerable to pollution caused by anthropogenic factors. These include yhe intensive exploitation of natural resources, intense navigation in fragile areas where Posidonia oceanica is in danger of being destroyed and the introduction of "alien species," recognized as one of the main causes of global biodiversity loss.