TRAGIC PLASTIC
The marine environment is particularly exposed to plastic pollution because of its altitude (not elevated) and due to the opened status of this natural habitat. This rivers and wind bring at sea those light wastes which stays trapped in the water.
Petrol-born plastic displays numerous advantages (that is the reason why this is a ubiquitous material) but is also combines many drawbacks from an ecological point of view :
Buoyancy + Similarity + Plastic durability = POISON for marine ecosystems
BUOYANCY : unfortunately many marine species feed at the sea surface.
SIMILARITY : being transparent or coloured, with its various and countless forms, animals confuse plastics with small fish, jellyfish or cephalopods living at the surface. This entails much damages for marine predators.
DURABILITY : no one organism, bacteria included, is known to be able to degrade plastic.
Plastic keeps accumulating for a long time at sea: years and centuries of poisoning marine species.
The impact of microplastics is probably underestimated now. Fragments mix with plankton in surface layers: What are the consequences in the long term?
Through a dedicated research programme, Expedition Med wishes to provide a robust scientific description of the plastic pollution in the Mediterranean sea.
