Maria João Bebianno, researcher at the University of Algarve (UAlg) and coordinator of the Center for Marine and Environmental Research (CIMA), was at the European Parliament to talk about the contamination of plastics in the deep sea.
The Algarve scientist was invited by MEP Ricardo Serrão Santos to attend a workshop organized by him, within the scope of the “AZORES – Deeper than Blue- Unveiling the Inner Ocean” initiative.
Maria João Bebianno gave a presentation entitled “Are we contaminating the deep-sea?”, where “she presented the most recent data on the presence of contaminants in the deep sea, both in the European context and in other areas of the ocean, where they have been detected large amounts of marine litter,” according to UAlg.
According to Maria João Bebianno “the greatest percentage is macro and microplastics and ghost fishing nets”. The researcher revealed that “macroplastics were detected in the Mariana Trench, more than 10 meters deep, while other contaminants of industrial origin, such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), were detected in amphipods that live between 7200 and 10000 meters deep».
The coordinator of CIMA took the opportunity to point out that plastics are not the only contaminants that concern scientists, which "may have more harmful consequences for the health of the ocean", despite not being visible, "as is the case with plastics".
“It is urgent to take measures to minimize the introduction of contaminants of terrestrial origin, which represent about 70% of the total of contaminants in the ocean, in order to allow a more sustainable exploitation of its resources”, defended Maria João Bebianno.
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