Participants of the "Clean Teribersky Coast – 2023" volunteer expedition in the Murmansk region removed 5.3 tons of plastic waste from the hard-to-reach beaches of the White and Barents Seas.
The project is being implemented thanks to the support of the Murmansk Region Youth Committee and the Whale Protection Fund, which were the main contributors, the head of the expedition Ulyana Latka told TASS.
According to the experts of the Whale Protection Fund, about 16 million tons of plastic garbage annually enters the world ocean. A significant part of it is brought by the Gulf Stream and the flow of rivers of the Arctic basin into the Barents Sea, which is the most productive sea in the territorial waters of Russia.
Plastic waste is one of the main causes of anthropogenic mortality of marine mammals. Whales are increasingly dying from stomach blockage with pieces of polyethylene and other plastic objects, from entanglement in packages, fishing lines, fishing gear.
"In a little over a month, we have carried out, without exaggeration, a huge amount of work with fantastic results, clearing 12.5 km of the White Sea coast from plastic debris, as well as three beaches in the Teribersky Bay of the Barents Sea," said the head of the expedition, specifying that volunteers from seven regions of Russia participated in the expedition.
According to experts, plastic pollution of the seas and oceans is the root cause of death of 150 to 200 thousand marine mammals annually.
Alex Shishlo for Rough&Polished
