A pioneering project developed by SEO/BirdLife is investigating the impact of marine litter that reaches the Biosphere Reserves of the Canary Islands from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Greenland to design management actions and public policies aimed at protecting and recovering the marine environment.
Under the name 'RBmar', the main objective of the initiative is to provide knowledge and raise awareness about marine waste that reaches these Biosphere Reserves of Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and the Chinijo archipelago, La Palma and El Hierro, declared by Unesco.
"The project will provide a detailed and updated view of the state of marine litter in these areas and will provide valuable scientific information, which will serve as a basis for designing management actions and public policies of a conservation nature," SEO/BirdLife said in a statement on Wednesday.
The tracking work of the project, financed with European Next Generation funds, will conclude in October of this year and the data collected, which will be analyzed by the Marine Science Technology Center (Cetecima) located in Gran Canaria, will allow the characterization of marine litter, address its origin and accumulation areas.
In addition, the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (Plocan) will facilitate the oceanographic and current characterization to analyze movement patterns, "key information to carry out monitoring and adopt future policies for the mitigation of this urgent and critical environmental problem," explained the environmental association.
Plastics and cigarette butts
The organization explained in the note that the garbage that reaches the coasts of the Canary Islands comes in many cases from places such as Canada, the East Coast of the United States, Mexico and even Greenland due to the confluences of various marine currents such as the Labrador Current, the Gulf and the Cold Canary Current, although the largest percentage of waste in the sea originates on land.
Plastics occupy the largest volume of everything found and cigarette butts are the most prominent element, "which highlights the urgent need to effectively manage solid waste in urban spaces," said SEO/BirdLife.
Cleaning of ports and beaches
In addition, the project also contemplates other direct intervention actions, such as the cleaning of port bottoms in each of the islands involved in the project, which will be carried out by professional teams of divers specialized in underwater work due to its complex logistics as it involves waste such as fishing nets, batteries, tires, heavy metal remains and even cars.
Numerous beach cleanups will also be carried out on the participating islands, with a collaborative approach, involving various groups from each of the territories that have a long history of carrying out this type of activity.
