July 3, 2016
Onto our 40th campaign day
The weeks are going by and each day we are experiencing something new or learning something new, making this expedition a very rewarding experience indeed. We’ve managed to swim at the same pace as jellyfish, see the way rays “fly” and witness the hatching of cuttlefish eggs. I reassure myself again that these waters, at 1,500m depth, hold a high degree of biodiversity. These waters are home to over 12,000 animal species and to over 1,300 varieties of microalgae, of which 22% are endemic. In this 0.8% of the planet’s ocean surface, important ecosystems come together, like the Posidonia seagrass or deep-sea coral reefs.
We’re now onto our 40th campaign day and we’ve done 56 ROV dives and 17 with diving cylinders and I can tell you that in each one of them, we have seen the remains of some kind of human activity. Bits of loose ends, fishing lines, nets, tyres, plastic – can all be seen when we dive. I don’t want to think that as our oceans fill up with rubbish, humans just turn a blind eye. So, from my little cabin, I want to send out a gentle reminder on that concern, so that we can continue to enjoy the seas, with the same respect and admiration that many of our ancestors had for our oceans.
MOST RECENT
January 17, 2025
January 3, 2025
December 24, 2024
December 23, 2024
December 5, 2024
Open letter from Environmental Civil Society Organisations to the European Commission