Plastic litter and marine mammals: a report from the workshop at the ECS conference
Berlin/La Spezia, May 2018.
Wow, this year’s ECS workshop, co-organized by M.E.E.R., set new standards. More than 50 participants came together to talk about plastic litter and marine mammals, more than ever before. M.E.E.R.’s 2nd chairman Volker Smit presented the results of the plastic pirates, who want to avoid plastic waste even before getting into the oceans. We had talks about current developments as well as about the whole extent of the problem, others dealt with approaches to solve the problem. These included the campaign “I care” by the Swiss organization “OceanCare” and the project One World One Ocean for the mapping of micro plastics in the oceans. The Spanish initiative ECOALF presented a “fashion collection” of marine plastic waste.
The grand finale was a live performance by a young Italian cellist who took us on a special journey, diving in the flow of underwater sounds, unique and unforgettable. We received a lot of positive feedback from all sides for the good organization and the balanced selection of contributions. For next year, we developed already new ideas, you can be curious, the workshop trip continues in autumn 2019, taking us to Barcelona….
See workshop program and abstracts of talks (pdf) here.
Impressions from the workshop