Tunis/Tunisia — Plastic accounts for 80% of the marine litter dispersed in the marine and coastal environment of three Mediterranean countries, namely Tunisia, Italy and Lebanon, results of the Europen Union-funded COastal Management and MOnitoring Network for tackling marine litter in Mediterranean sea (COMMON) project , presented recently in Tunis, show.

Five pilot areas were involved in the project activities: Two in Tunisia (Kuriate Islands and Monastir), two in Italy (Maremma and Salento) and one in Lebanon (Tyre nature reserve). According to the project's results, more than half of the litter collected (53%) is represented by single-use plastic (SUPs).

"Of the over 90,000 objects collected on the beaches and analysed using scientific protocols, harmonised among the different project partners, 17,000 (around 20%) were cigarette butts, and 6,000 were cotton buds", reads a statement published on the ENI CBC Med website.

The data obtained during the 3-year project confirms the impact of marine litter and microplastics on Mediterranean biodiversity. In fact, during the COMMON project, the gastrointestinal tract of over 700 specimens of 6 commercially important fish species was analysed: Engraulis encrasicolus (anchovy), Sardina pilchardus (sardine), Sardinella aurita (round sardinella), Boops boops (bogue), Mullus barbatus (red mullet), Lythognathus mormirus (striped seabream). On average, one-third of the specimens analysed had ingested microplastics.

Ingestion levels by turtles vary between 40% and 70%

During this project, sea turtle Caretta caretta was used as an indicator of the health of the basin, by the Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programme of the Mediterranean Sea and Coast (IMAP), and revealed that in over 140 specimens from Tunisia, Lebanon, and Maremma (Italy), the ingestion levels vary between 40% and 70%.

Launched in 2019, the COMMON project funded by the European Union through the ENI CBC MED programme with 2.2 million euros, involving Legambiente, the University of Siena, and the CIHEAM Bari for Italy, the National Institute of Marine Sciences and Technology (INSTM) and the University of Sousse for Tunisia and the Lebanese NGO Amwaj of the Environment and the Tyre nature reserve, for Lebanon.

Furthermore, the project promoted the Clean Up The Med initiative, a large environmental volunteer initiative in its 30th edition, involving over 2,000 volunteers from 20 Mediterranean countries who took part in beach cleaning activities, removing 10 tons of marine litter along nearly 24,000 km of coastline.