After having explored the Mediterranean Sea from May to November, the Tara Mediterranean expedition ended on November 22 in the Port of Lorient. The objective of this mission was twofold, on the one hand to study the pollution of microplastic floating on the surface and on the other hand to raise awareness of environmental issues in the Mediterranean basin.
In order to understand how human life could impact marine pollution, the schooner Tara has carried out 2,300 samplings at sea, on the coasts, in the mouths of rivers but also in the ports. Thanks to special nets, samples could be taken on the surface and are intended for the chemical study of plastic, for microscopic analysis, for the study of plastic colonization but also for the study of the interaction between zooplankton and plastic. The analyses will start in December and the first results will be delivered in spring 2015.
A first scandalous state of affairs
According to the scientific director of Tara Méditerranée, Gaby Gorsky (CNRS/UPMC) and the scientific coordinator of Tara Méditerranée Maria Luiza Pedrotti (OOV CNRS/UPMC), " Fragments of plastic were found at each net survey and this from the west to the east of the Mediterranean. With a higher concentration of plastic observed in front of large cities but also with significant concentrations in the open sea."
To carry out its analyses, Tara has made stops in 13 countries and made 20 stops: France, Italy, Monaco, Albania, Greece, Lebanon, Cyprus, Malta, Tunisia, Algeria, Spain, Morocco and Portugal. This expedition is the 10th ème since 2003 âeuros has allowed nearly 10,000 people to visit the schooner. But that is not all! Exchange workshops have been conducted with local actors in order to set up an international awareness program as well as concrete means such as water sanitation, waste management, the creation of Protected Marine Areas, innovation for a biodegradable plasticâeuros¦ A "Blue Book" will see the light of day in March and will propose local solutions
