MALLORCA: Expédition MED visits Port de Mallorca

The Expédition MED research team called at Marina Port de Mallorca aboard the ship Bonita during the summer as part of its voyage around the Mediterranean to collect and analyse water. Expédition MED is a non-profit foundation formed in 2009 to investigate the problem of plastics in the Mediterranean and their consequences for wildlife and humans.

The team is made up of researchers and volunteers from various universities who take water samples from different places in the Mediterranean to subsequently analyse their microplastic and nanoplastic content. After having studied more than 5,000 samples, they found an average of 150 micro/nanoplastics in the water, showing the sheer size of the problem.
This pollution poses a direct threat to marine fauna, affecting turtles, fish and seabirds that swallow the plastic fragments. The plastics are also increasingly fragmented into microplastics and nanoplastics, making it difficult to eliminate them and causing a greater risk to both marine life and human health.
Upon arrival at the marina, the Expédition MED team welcomed marina guest children aboard Bonita and gave them microscopes and magnifying glasses to examine the tiny fragments of plastic from the water.
Expedition member Alan D’Alfonso Peral commented: "The fight against marine pollution is a collective struggle. Ocean currents play a crucial role in transporting plastics across the Mediterranean. Plastic debris travels vast distances driven by currents, and it's incredible to see how samples from different countries can be found in various areas of the sea. It's as if the Mediterranean connects all the shores, carrying with it a worrying pollution load".