The survey continues a good pace. We have already observed more than twenty areas and plastics appear on all dives. Sometimes they are only a few here and there, and other times they are concentrated in larger quantities.

The lot of the seafloor is mostly sandy with green algae, although the presence of small rocks is not uncommon, where some gorgonians and sponges are located.

In the deeper areas, the seafloor has the greatest amount of mud. Many of them full of cavities and crevices made by some fish and crustaceans.

A few months ago, I was asked the usual set of questions about Oceana’s expeditions for an interview: What is the most beautiful thing you have seen? The most shocking? What is the worst thing? Unfortunately, the answer to these last two questions was the same... Real, underwater dumps, meters and meters of ROV "flights" where plastic had clearly won the battle for the terrain... I remember clearly looking up "the eyes" of the ROV (the tilt) and see, or rather, not see an end to an underwater landfill...

While the Ranger surveyed the intertidal zone using the ROV today, we completed four dives near the coast at different depths and covered hundreds of meters with aide of our underwater scooters.

Day one of our mission for the search of plastics started off at 08:00 hours with a hearty breakfast. We explored areas relatively close to Pobla Marina to test out our equipment, beginning with a deep-sea meadow. We dived in one end of the meadow, while the ROV explored the other. And, although we located some plastics, we decided that the search must continue. So, we went to an area with a sandy bottom, again, no luck: the water got rough, so we had to get back on board.

After picking up our equipment and the trip to Puebla Marina, the Ranger´s home port, we finally met the rest of the crew. We all then had an introductory meeting where we planned for the days ahead and then set off to get everything ready for tomorrow. We´re all excited and looking forward to this five-day survey!

Amazing ocean-life discoveries

Did you know how many amazing and unusual features lie deep in our ocean, some of whose uniqueness allows whole ecosystems to live within them? Here are some Oceana discovered in European waters on our research expeditions:

3D yellow tree coral (Dendrophyllia cornigera, Galicia - Spain)

Between 2016 and 2017, Oceana’s researchers conducted two scientific expeditions across the North Sea, onboard the MV Neptune – a fully equipped vessel, 50 m in length. The result: 42707 observation records of North Sea marine species, ranging from corals and sponges to crustaceans, fish, and molluscs.

Below the water’s surface, are 17 000 species that can potentially help us in the fight against climate change that are, oddly enough, being overlooked: these are of course, the algae. Just like any other plant, algae use CO₂ for photosynthesis, and thus, absorb a great amount of this greenhouse gas. And that is what brings us to the Climate Change Conference, to show just how important a role algae play and why they need to be protected.

We hear you. Loud and clear: you’d like to know how or what you can do to help save the oceans.

Here are 10 simple steps you can take to help protect our seas and oceans.

Drum roll, please… In no particular order:

1. When buying fish, think “where, how and what size”