Decontamination of 6 sites in hard to access areas as a tool to change behavior

, Néollier Marie-Amélie.

The marine park of the Iroise sea (PNMI) covers a surface of 3500 square km. This area, enables us to take into consideration all the socio-economic activities where 'man' and sea interact in a coherent way. Established in 2007, the PNMI quickly focused towards tackling the macro-waste problem. In 2010, we started work on our first project based on the OSPAR protocol. Our findings ran contrary to the national data; it appears that 70% of the macro-waste in Iroise Sea was of maritime origin. 13% of that pollution was contributed by 'Industrial fishing', making it the most polluting activity. In 2019 the park became a partner of the cross-Channel project Preventing Plastic Pollution. The team's experience acquired allowed us to come up with a wide range of solutions to provide actionable plans against the rise of macro-waste. As a result of these plans macro waste from industrial fishing in harbours and ports became a target. The plan presented, involves the decontamination of 6 sites in hard to access areas. We have concentrated our work on the Molene archipelago islands, in ports and harbour areas as well as an old open garbage dump at the bottom of a cliff on the island of Ouessant. These actions rely on several parameters. First, governance; All those involved need to be able to take responsibility for their actions (trainings, meetings). Second, expertise; Macro waste removed needs to be quantified and qualified (report post decontamination). Third, environmental education; Each action will be planned and targeted and educationnal tools willl be created (durable panels, trainings about the impact of macro-waste pollution, beach cleanups). We are working in areas where macro-waste has been identified. Through those processes and by enabling and working alonsgside different local actors, we wish to maintain the benefit of these actions over time.

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