Interview to Christopher K. Pham, researcher at IMAR and the Universidade dos Açores.
If it doesn’t go into the bin it goes in the sea. This is the message of the environmental awareness campaign from the Oceano Azul Foundation and the Oceanário de Lisboa, in partnership with Olá, aiming to alert the Portuguese to one of the planet’s greatest environmental problems: marine litter. Christopher K. Pham, researcher at the Universidade dos Açores, explains the problematic of marine litter on the seabed and the reason why he associated with this campaign. Join us for a #oceanoazul.
“We are now realizing that the seabed is the final destination of a relevant part of the litter that goes into the ocean and, consequently, is one of the zones of greater accumulation of plastic. The deep sea is a reservoir of biodiversity that is of great importance for the balance of our planet. However, contrary to shallow waters, the deep sea is very sensitive and takes a very long time to recover from external disturbance such as plastic pollution. Furthermore, the deep sea is already under the pressure of many human activities, such as fishing, oil exploitation and climate change. It is the synergy of all these activities that represents the biggest threat for the deep ocean. Reducing the input of litter into the ocean is therefore essential to avoid the pollution of the deep sea.”
Christopher K. Pham, researcher at IMAR – Institute of Marine Research and MARE – Marine and Enviromental Sciences Centre, Universidade dos Açores.
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