Filenews 16 April 2023
Data on coastal marine litter, which for the first time covers the whole of Cyprus in the European Union database EMODNET, have been made public, according to Dr. Xenia I. Loizidou, Chairman of the Board of Directors of AKTI.
This is 42499 data, collected in 80 samples from 20 coasts throughout Cyprus, from Karpasia to Akamas. Data collection and processing began in 2020.
"The average density of garbage on our shores," said Dr. Loizidou, "it's 0.2 pieces in every square meter of sand! 86% of garbage is plastic, led by caps from plastic bottles." The data are collected, as he noted, by a specific method supported by the European Union. The action was initially supported by the EU in the framework of a bi-communal project and continues with voluntary work by the two non-profit organizations, MASDER and the Center for Studies and Research AKTI, which has the scientific responsibility for the research.
As the President of the Board of Directors of AKTI noted, it is the first time that data on marine litter in the Eastern Mediterranean are systematically recorded and now, "the fact that for the first time data from all over Cyprus are included in the European database, with the support of the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research, gives us joy and courage to continue".
Following an invitation by the Department of Fisheries and Marine Research to the researchers, the data were registered as official data of Cyprus for monitoring the progress of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, he said.
In addition, Dr. Xenia I. Loizidou noted that Cyprus is an island, a single natural system, noting that the sea knows no borders.
Garbage travels to all seas in the world, leaving microplastics and pollution everywhere, he stressed, also mentioning that the Mediterranean is the most polluted sea in the world in terms of plastic pollution.
We need, he continued, "to know what is reaching our shores in order to be able to deal with it."
He also pointed out that they are working hard with their Turkish Cypriot partners to achieve for the first time this systematic scientific recording of garbage that reaches the shores of all over Cyprus, either by sea or land.
"Now we know and continue the research, aiming to create a time series of data that will allow a better understanding of the problem and will lead to its treatment," Loizidou said.
(CNA
