The FINANCIAL — The amount of marine litter in the Black Sea is almost twice as high as in the Mediterranean Sea, while concentrations of some pollutants exceed their toxicity threshold value. These were some of the results of the Joint Black Sea Surveys presented by the “Improving Environmental Monitoring in the Black Sea: Selected Measures” (EMBLAS-Plus) project and the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine at a press conference in Odesa on 29 July.
The surveys were conducted in the period 2017–2019 in the coastal waters of Georgia, Ukraine and Russia and in the open sea. They were conducted by the EMBLAS – Phase 2 project in cooperation with the Ukrainian Scientific Centre of Ecology of the Sea, the Institute of Marine Biology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, as well as Mechnikov National University and others. The surveys were done following the requirements of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which is aimed at protecting the marine environment across the EU, and using the latest monitoring techniques, including non-target chemical screening and e-DNA analysis.
The EMBLAS-Plus project builds on the results of the previous EMBLAS and EMBLAS-II projects to improve protection of the Black Sea environment through further technical assistance focused on marine data collection and local small-scale actions targeted at reducing pollution by marine litter, raising awareness and educating the public.
The project works with key partners from research/scientific and educational institutions, and civil society organisations in Georgia and Ukraine.
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