83% of the microplastic particles found were microfibers: small plastic fibers that are shed from synthetic clothing.
The seas that bathe the European continent contain an average of 139 microplastic particles per cubic meter and the Baltic is the sea most polluted by these small plastic fibers, according to data collected between May and June of this year by the teams that competed in the first edition of the regatta The Ocean Race Europe.
According to a statement provided by the organization of this test, the boats’ Ambersail-2 ′, ‘ArkzoNobel Ocean Racing’ and ’11th Hour Racing Team’ collected up to 36 water samples to measure the concentration of microplastics and CO2, the temperature of the sea and the pH and salinity levels between the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda and the Italian port of Genoa.
With the advice of the GEOMAR Helmhonltz Center for Ocean Research in Kiel (Germany) and the University of Utrecht (Netherlands), lThe vessels collected the samples over six weeks of navigation that were subsequently analyzed. to detect the presence of these contaminants.
83% of the microplastic particles found were microfibers: small plastic fibers that reach the natural environment during the manufacturing, washing or wearing of synthetic clothing and that they are the ones “most frequently consumed by marine species”, which is why their presence is “worrisome for oceanic biodiversity”.
The rest of the plastic elements collected are degraded fragments of larger objects such as bottles, wrappers or microbeads from cosmetics.
According to these analyzes, the Baltic Sea is the most polluted by microplastics in all of Europe, with an average of 230 particles per cubic meter, slightly more than double the 112 found on average in the Mediterranean, which is often considered “a hot spot” in this type of pollution.
However, the second highest level of microplastics in a single sample – not the average – was recorded off the Spanish coast: in the Alboran Sea, off Malaga, where there were 424 microplastics particles per cubic meter.
Omnipresence in the ocean
Aaron Beck, a scientist at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center, noted that the data “clearly show that microplastics are ubiquitous in the ocean“And that” surprisingly “its main component is microfibers, so the information collected is” significant “, although it has called for” more research “to” better understand the source of plastics and where they end up. “
As for the CO2 data, the samples proved that carbon dioxide levels were higher in the Mediterranean “as a consequence of the warm temperatures and the existence of very little wind.”
The presence of this substance “It has increased a lot during the last 200 years” And the rate of increase is accelerating, according to this analysis.
The scientific director of The Ocean Race, Simon Weppe, has warned about the “drastic decline in ocean health” and the need for governments “to act on the basis of scientific evidence to protect and restore our ocean and everything that depends on it.” (I)
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