The VII Great International Seabed Cleanup removes from the marine environment near 9 tons of waste
- The Marinas del Mediterráneo Group has collaborated one more year in the cleanings carried out in Marina del Este and in the Port of La Duquesa
- This new cleaning campaign convened by the Network of Marine Watchers has been developed simultaneously in more than 30 points of Spain with the participation of 2.000 volunteers
The VII Great International Seabed Cleanup carried out this weekend in more than 30 points of the Spanish coast has ended with the withdrawal of a total of 8.820 kilograms of garbage collected from the marine environment. An activity convened again by the Network of Marine Watchers and in which they have participated near 2.000 volunteers.
The Mediterranean marine group, entity that manages the concession of the marinas of La Duquesa (Manilva-Malaga) and Marina del Este (Almuñécar-Granada) has collaborated one more year in this new cleaning campaign, which is part of the fifth edition of the citizen science campaign "1m2 for the beaches and seas", of the LIBERA program, led by SEO/BirdLife and Ecoembes.
Both in Marina del Este and in the Port of La Duquesa, Marinas del Mediterráneo has ceded a support boat for the collection of marine litter by divers. In Marina del Este, In addition, it has also provided the containers in which the waste has been deposited in a classified manner and, in La Duquesa, the group has offered drinks and a snack to the participating volunteers.
In the cleaning that has taken place in Puerto La Duquesa, organized by the members of the Underwater Association of Casares, volunteers have managed to withdraw 150 kilograms of residues from the seabed and surface of adjacent beaches.
In Almuñécar, the GEA Volunteer Association Granada has taken care of cleaning the shallow bottoms and the beaches of Cala and Marina del Este collecting almost 230 kilograms of waste.
A campaign with multiple benefits
The LIBERA program aims to sensitize the population regarding the need to eradicate "garbage". In addition, this type of cleaning campaigns also aims to involve the little ones, who actively participate in the collection of waste on the beaches while divers do it in the funds.
Also, the Network of Marine Watchers also maintains a collaboration agreement with the company Pescanova under which it collaborates by swapping the kilos of waste removed for kilos of food that it will donate to the Spanish Federation of Food Banks.
Citizen Science
All waste removed by the Marine Watchers, both at the bottom of the sea and on the surface of the coast, are categorized and registered in a mobile application. The data obtained in each campaign are incorporated into the citizen science of '1m2 for the beaches and the seas' of the LIBERA Project and will be integrated into the database of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition. To do this, the MARNOBA mobile app is used, developed by the Zero Spills Association and KAI Marine Services, a platform that collects, stores and displays information about marine litter off the coast of Spain. In this way, information is obtained that allows to acquire a greater knowledge of the type of waste that appears in the marine environment, about their origin and preferred routes of transport and deposition.
The VII Great International Seabed Cleaning has carried out its actions in Andalusia, Asturias, Canary islands, Castilla La Mancha, Catalonia, Community of Valencia, Galicia, Murcia, Basque Country, Balearic Islands and Melilla, as well as in other countries such as Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Cuba and Morocco.