Success stories on marine pollution

Bringing science and fisheries together to tackle a hidden menace: marine litter. Scientists from Cagliari University and Fisheries Local Action Groups and Sardinian fishers joined forces to remove over two tonnes of waste from Sardinian waters.

In the heart of Seville, Spain, football fans can enjoy the comfort of their new stadium seats thanks to the joint efforts of the Gravity Wave project and the famous Real Betis football club. The seats were made from plastic waste from the Mediterranean. 

In the heart of the Bay of Biscay, where the azure waters meet the Spanish Basque Country, the BLUENET project set sail to tackle lost fishing gear, upcycling the ominous 'ghost-nets'.

MER-CLUB is an ambitious scientific project which aims to tackle the issue of mercury pollution in marine sediments. Mercury pollution is a global problem with large environmental, socio-economic and health impacts. 

Knowing where marine litter comes from is fundamental to achieve a healthy marine environment. And this is exactly what the Finnish EU-funded RoskatPois! (LitterAway!) project set out to do.

Plastic pollution in our ocean has devastating consequences for biodiversity, fisheries, tourism and coastal communities. EU has taken many steps to address this problem, either by direct legislative initiatives, by awareness-raising campaigns (such as the ongoing #EUBeachCleanup),

Marine litter not only has negative environmental impacts, it is also bad for local business, from tourism to small-scale fishing and aquaculture. The “Litter Spain” project in Galicia, shows how to foster new opportunities in the circular economy.

Marine litter is a global concern, affecting all the oceans of the world. Awareness raising campaigns are an integral part of strategies to induce those changes. In Italy, a coalition of civil society, local institutions and parks has joined forces with the EU with the REMARE project.