ALONISSOS: Off the coast of Alonissos, a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, volunteer divers haul decaying plastic bottles, a discarded tyre, and a rusted anchor chain from the seabed, placing the debris into trash bags as part of an EU-funded marine cleanup effort.
The recovered waste—gathered near one of Europe’s largest protected marine parks and a popular tourist destination known for its turquoise waters—represents only a fraction of the tens of thousands of tonnes of rubbish that pollute the Mediterranean each year.
Established in the early 1990s, the marine park off Alonissos is home to one of the world’s last surviving colonies of the endangered Monk seal, as well as more than 300 species of fish, along with dolphins and sea turtles.
Its existence has made both locals and tourists increasingly aware of the risks of marine pollution, said Theodora Francis, 31, one of the divers who joined the two-day initiative.
“We visited five, four areas to check whether we find rubbish in those areas,” Francis said. “In most of those areas we didn’t… but in some areas we did.” She said the main port of Votsi, where most tourism and fishing occurs, was the site of most litter.
To protect its coastal biodiversity, Greece has promised to create another two marine parks in the Aegean and the Ionian Sea in the west, part of 21 initiatives worth 780 million euros ($887.5 million).
It has legislated the expansion of marine protected areas to 30% of its territorial waters by 2030, and has submitted plans to the EU setting out how it will organise fishing, tourism and offshore energy.
“People all over the globe should know that we have the strength to change everything. We really believe in the individual responsibility of people, we invest in this,” said George Sarelakos, 46, president of the Greece-based agency which organised the cleanup, Aegean Rebreath.
For Francis, Alonissos can be a model for the protection of the seas.
“If every island had the same interest in taking care of their environment, we would have the Alonissos situation in many more islands.”
