Christmas time, time to take stock

The After Life activities of the GHOST project continued during this very difficult year, especially through the participation in webinars and in marine litter mapping surveys using the HRSS off the Croatian island of Lošinj, as part of the marGnet project activities, which were followed by a removing campaign, carried out according to the GHOST removal protocol, (https://www.margnet.eu/news/). Moreover, after life activities led to the publication of a scientific article (ttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.seares.2020.101903), and strenghtened the collaboration with AQUA-LIT project team aimed at realizing an updated database with marine litter data from aquaculture activities (https://aqua-lit.eu/toolbox).

Numerous activities are planned for the next year as well, including the preparation of new editorial products, so stay tuned!!!!

The GHOST team wishes all of you Merry Christmas and a New Year full of opportunities and success!

MAPPING AND REMOVING OF MARINE LITTER IN LOŠINJ (CROATIA)

From 24th to 29th September 2020 Federico Riccato and Riccardo Fiorin of Laguna Project snc carried out a marine litter mapping campaign using an HRSS off the Croatian island of Lošinj, as part of the marGnet project activities. The litter was then recovered in accordance with the removal protocol developed during the GHOST project and sent to Sintol srl in Turin for its transformation into fuel oil.

Laguna project researchers also participated in a seminar organized by the Blue World Institute to raise awareness among Croatian fishermen on the problem of marine litter and its removal from the sedbeds with a presentation aimed at illustrating the correct recovery procedure.

Seminars at the IUAV University of Venice

On Tuesday November 17th, 2020 Vanessa Moschino and Nicoletta Nesto of ISMAR GHOST and marGnet team held two on-line seminars focused on marine litter issue and on the activities carried out within LIFE-GHOST and EMFF/EASME marGnet projects for students of the degree course in Product and visual communication design at the IUAV University of Venice. The two seminars, entitled “The sea into a bottle: Marine litter threatens ecosystems" and "Marine litter: problem or resource?", were included in the activities foreseen in Decision and planning for the future course and in Communication Design laboratory held by Prof. Simona Morini and Prof. Luciano Perondi, respectively. The aim was to provide an overview on the marine plastic issue that students, in collaboration with Prof Stefania Tonin of the GHOST team, are going to elaborate through new communication languages for data visualization.

MARINE LITTER IN VENICE: MONITORING, REMOVAL AND CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Last weekend an important event, organized by the Institute of Marine Sciences of the National Research Council (CNR ISMAR) and the NGO Venice Lagoon Plastic Free (VLPF), was held in Venice aimed at raising awareness among citizens, economic operators and institutions local on the problem linked to the pervasive presence of marine litter along the canals and the lagoon of Venice.

On October 3, a conference was held at the Saturnia & International Hotel in Venice, which was attended as speakers by ISMAR Venezia researchers involved in the MarGnet project and by representatives of public and private research institutions, fishermen's associations and industrial realities. The conference was an important opportunity to inform the public about the quantity and the different typpologies of marine litter present in the Venice Lagoon and to illustrate the possible solutions developed within the marGnet project, which, starting from the results obtained from the LIFE-GHOST project, is developing new technologies to map, remove and effectively recycle marine litter by transforming it into marine fuel.

Finally, on 4 October, a clean-up day took place in collaboration with numerous institutions and associations, aimed at collecting  floating plastic waste in Venetian inner canals and the Lagoon. A portion of the removed material will be sent to the experimental pyrolysis plant of SINTOL in Turin (partner of the marGnet project) for its transformation into marine fuel.