The plastic pollution in the Gulf of St. Lawrence is “an environmental catastrophe,” testifies a research team. Those who have studied the phenomenon on board a sailboat denounce the impact of this pollution and climate change on biodiversity.
Photo courtesy of Blue Organization
“Everywhere we saw the ubiquity of plastic pollution on the banks. We had hypotheses, we guessed, that some places were more polluted than others. But we’re talking about an environmental catastrophe here,” says Anne-Marie Asselin, head of operations and managing director of the Blue Organization.
Photo courtesy of Blue Organization
For 17 days, the seven researchers from the Blue Expedition collected debris found on the shores and at the heart of the Gulf of St. Lawrence gyres, those giant whirlpools of water formed by a series of ocean currents.
Photo courtesy of Blue Organization
The explorers of the Blue Expedition
A quarter ton of waste
More than a quarter tonne of waste was collected at ten sampling stations – located in provincial or federal protected areas – between Sept-Îles on the north coast and Havre-Aubert in the Îles-de-Madeleine.
Photo courtesy of Blue Organization
The warming river water — and becoming less and less oxygenated — is a hypothesis alongside plastic, according to Ms. Jimenez-moratalla.
Photo courtesy of Blue Organization