Plastic Busters CAP and COMMON project worked together on 13 and 14 July in Centro Velico Gargano Manfredonia (Italy) during an international workshop entitled “Monitoring Marine Litter In Environment And Biodiversity” to capitalize the methodologies to tackle marine litter.

Two days of intense work and discussion with theoretical and practical lessons with the representatives of the sea turtles rescue centers and managers of marine protected areas of the Mediterranean, the activities were directly implemented on the beach at sea and in laboratory.

During the regional training, Prof. Maria Cristina Fossi of University of Siena (LB)  remarked the importance of harmonizing the monitoring protocols in  the entire Mediterranean basin, to evaluate the presence and effects of macro and microlitter. 

During the beach litter monitoring  Activity, In just 1 hour of sampling in “Sciale delle Rondinelle (Manfredonia)” the researchers found more than 11.15 kilos of marine litter. The marine litter was composed of 1.10 kilos of metals, 1.05 of clothes, 1.87 of wood, 6.82 of plastic, 0.31 of glass ceramic. This sampling techniques allow to analyze the sources of marine litter in order to identify the the specific mitigation actions to apply in the area. In additionthe participants took part in a monitoring training at sea of floating macro and microlitter sampling with Manta Net.

At the end of the second day, all the participants visited the Turtle Rescue Centre of Legambiente (CTRM) in Manfredonia. More than 180 turtles have been saved per year in this centre, most of them are victims of plastic.

Before the certificate ceremony, Marianna Marangi of the University of Foggia talked about “What the sea turtle pathogens tell us? Experiences from the Sea Turtle Rescue Centers”.

The international workshop was co-organized by Legambiente and University of Siena. Union for the Mediterranean actively participated in the workshop as the projects’ partners Ciheam Bari, INSTM, the University of Sousse, TCNR, AMWAJ, El Rames and the University of Jordan.