The Mediterranean Sea has become Europe’s deepest garbage dump, according to a new study. Plastic waste generated by human activities has been found in the 5,112-metre-deep (16,770ft) Calypso Deep, located within the depth of the Ionian Sea. A total of 167 objects, mainly comprising of plastics but also including metal drink cans and paper cartons have been identified at the bottom.
“The dominant litter category by material type is plastics, accounting for 88 % of the identified litter items. No interactions have been found between litter and the rare life forms identified so far in the deep Ionian Sea,” the study published in Marine Pollution Bulletin revealed.
The researchers at the University of Barcelona used a high-tech manned submarine called Limiting Factor to reach the bottom of the trench. It was able to cover a distance equivalent to 650 meters during a 43-minute stay near the bottom.
The Calypso Deep is located 60 kilometers west of the Peloponnese coast in Greece in a region of high seismic activity due to active faults. It is surrounded by fairly steep, stepped relief and has slopes of thousands of meters.
The study focused on the inner part of the trench which has been described as “kidney-shaped” and measures approximately 20km by 5km in area.
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Warning issued
“Some light waste, such as plastics, comes from the coast, from where it escapes to the Calypso Deep, just 60 kilometers away. Some plastics, such as bags, drift just above the bottom until they are partially or completely buried, or disintegrate into smaller fragments,” said Miquel Canals, professor at the Department of Earth and Ocean Dynamics, associated with the study.
“We have also found evidence of the boats’ dumping of bags full of rubbish, as revealed by the pile-up of different types of waste followed by an almost rectilinear furrow. Unfortunately, as far as the Mediterranean is concerned, it would not be wrong to say that “‘not a single inch of it is clean’.”
Since the ocean floor is largely unknown to society, unlike popular places such as beaches or the coastline, it makes it difficult to raise social and political awareness about the conservation of these spaces.
The presence of the debris has forced the researchers to issue a dire warning of the need to “implement global policy actions” to reduce as waste as well as change the consumption habits of people across the globe.