LEBANON: International expedition assessing oceanic plastic pollution docks in Beirut

Record ID: 217057

  • Title: LEBANON: International expedition assessing oceanic plastic pollution docks in Beirut
  • Date: 10th August 2014
  • Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (AUGUST 5, 2014) (REUTERS) TARA MEDITERRANEE BOAT ARRIVING AT LEBANESE COAST SIGN ON BOAT READING: "TARA" BOAT ARRIVING VARIOUS OF BUILDINGS ON PORT OF ZAYTOUNA BAY VARIOUS OF "TARA" BOAT DOCKED ON LEBANESE COAST (SOUNDBITE) (English) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF TARA MEDITERRANEE, ROMAIN TROUBLE, SAYING: "So this project is a French project, it's a project it
  • Embargoed: 25th August 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Reuters ID: LVA4KTENYTKBXCLHAP3KBXDJB90
  • Story Text: The Tara M�iterran� international expedition docks in Beirut as part of a scientific expedition to determine the level of plastic pollution off the shores of the Lebanese coast.


    Research ship Tara Medit�ran� docked in Beirut on Tuesday (August 5) escorted by a small armada of scientific boats, NGO vessels, members of the Lebanese Navy and others.
    As part of a French non-profit organisation that studies the environmental impact of pollution, Tara Medit�ran�'s stay on the Lebanese coast is aimed at testing the waters for micro-plastics.
    "We are here in Lebanon to study plastic pollution in the ocean, but we have been in many countries before, in France, Italy, Albania, Greece and tomorrow we are going to go to Tunisia and Algeria, try to understand the pollution in the Mediterranean sea, try to understand what this microplastics in the ocean, there is everywhere we want to look at, there are some, the plastic is everywhere in the ocean today, and we are here in Lebanon to share also the research and so we work with local association Big Blue to promote what they do on a daily basis, all year long in Lebanon," executive director of Tara Medit�ran�, Romain Trouble, told Reuters.
    Crew member Marillon Lauterse said the microplastic study was one in a long line of similar research projects around the world.
    "I am on board since three months and I am a cook on board, so I was also during different expeditions. I was in the ice in Arctic during eleven months to study the ice there, and now we are studying pollution by microplastic in Mediterranean sea," she said.
    Beirut-based Operation Big Blue Association (OBBA), set to share research with the Tara Medit�ran� crew, has been working on marine solid waste and plastic problems since 1997.
    "Our cooperation today with Tara is because Tara is a boat that wanders the seas. Its subject this year is solid waste, particularly plastic, and this is something we are very interested in because it harms our marine environment. Plastic is not only what you see in form -- it disintegrates due to natural factors, it becomes micro-plastic then nano-plastic. Fishes eat all this and suffer harm, and even humans get harmed from it when they eat fish. So we are so interested in what Tara is working on, understanding this and what it has found out from travelling the seas, as well as what it has experienced in other countries," OBBA member Affat Idriss Chatila said.
    Tara's stopover program includes public visits on the boat deck led by members of the crew, as well as an exhibition called 'Our Planet Ocean' about the marine universe.
    Tara Medit�ran� is set to stay on the Lebanese coast until Tuesday (August 12).
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