GOB, the Balearic environmentalist group, has raised an alert over the serious problem of plastic contamination of the sea. This has arisen in the context of a clean-up of the coast by Colonia Sant Jordi by volunteers from GOB. During this initiative, approximately a hundred kilos of plastic and other waste were collected.
It was an action supported by the town hall in Ses Salines and by the Biodiversity Foundation. The environmentalists point out that it is estimated that some nine million tons of plastic are dumped in the sea in one way or another: an amount, GOB says, which increases each year.
The plastic can have harmful effects for marine life. GOB says that it affects all types of marine life - from whales and large fish to mollusks.
The group reckons that 20% of the plastic comes from boats and ships, be they personal, recreational, for fishing or for transportation.
Alert over marine pollution from plastic