Mankind-produced waste littering out seabed is a growing problem, which is being tackled by volunteers, which as the case of Punta de La Mona last month.

The Consejería de Sostenibilidad, Medio Ambiente y Economía Azul, as part of the  Proyecto Life Intemares, organised the event on the 11th of April off the Punta within the zona de especial conservación (special conservation area).

Thirteen divers participated, seven of whom were members of local diving clubs, going to work in the areas known as La Calita and Piedras Altas. Exploration dives were carried out beforehand to find the worst affected areas.

The day-long operation brought up 51.7 kilos of rubbish lying on the seabed. They also found remains of three buoy mooring points, an anchor, four glass bottles, a tyre, a sweater, a blue fishing net, a trawler net, three lead weights and fishing line weighing 7.6 kilos in weight.

The diver were organised into four teams, each with its own objective, backed by two rib helmsmen, a fisherman and five personnel from the eHumanTech association. The divers worked at depths between 18 and 38 metres, all of whom performed volunteer work for the Grupo Coral Soul.

The Life Intemares project intents to heighten awareness amongst the general public towards the health of our seabeds and coastlines integrated within the Red Natura 2000.

It is a sad reminder that 80% of turtles that end up in the care of the Centro de Gestión de Medio Marino Andaluz, (Cegma), in Algeciras (Cádiz) are sick from having ingested plastic and other waste of human origin.

(News/Noticias: Herradura, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)