ISMAR/CNR organised during 19 – 23th of June 2023, in collaboration with INGV and police divers from the La Spezia Nautical Centre (Cnes), the cleaning of the seabed in an area of the Tuscan Archipelago Park, near the island of Giannutri. The operation, carried out as a citizen science activity, was made possible thanks to the support of the NAUTILOS project (WP12), the Castalia fleet and volunteers from the Italian NGO MAREVIVO. The underwater police and volunteers collected large quantities of rubbish, in particular plastic bottles, which were left in the sea for many years and were completely colonised by various encrusting benthic communities, such as polychaetes, bryozoans and foraminifera. Some of them are currently being studied by the CNR, ENEA and the University of Pisa, in order to estimate the state of degradation of the polymers and understand the processes that led to the sinking and accumulation of such large quantities of plastic in those areas.
Picture10
