October 24, 2016
What nobody sees
Today, Monday, I am writing you from the port, instead of doing so from the sea as planned. A problem with the probe of the boat, an essential tool for us to be able to work, meant that we had to return to land before scheduled and moor for a couple of hours – hopefully not too long – before returning to sea.
Working days are numbered now, the end of the campaign draws near, despite the fact that my colleague Marta and I have just joined this expedition to carry out the final week of research on board.
We have conducted some ROV transects and two dredges. Some species which we were observing are new for me, since it is the first time that we are researching the eastern Mediterranean. The depths of the Lebanon are being filmed for the first time, making us very fortunate spectators of new discoveries about Mediterranean marine diversity.
Unfortunately, not all the discoveries are positive ones. We are filming the materialisation of decades of consumption, ignorant limitless consumption, of plastic and other contaminating materials. The cameras are bringing to the surface what nobody sees: on the one hand, extremely valuable information about the species and habitat present, but on the other, the image of a Lebanese sea turned into a dump. We will do what we can to ensure these images can be used to stir peoples’ consciences.