The Mediterranean Sea has turned into Europe deepest garbage dump with plastic waste found at a record depth of 5,112 meters in the Calypso Deep a trench within the Ionian Sea. Researchers discovered 167 pieces of trash mostly plastic, along with metal cans and paper cartons at the bottom, according to a new study published in Marine Pollution Bulletin.
Plastic made up 88% of the waste collected from the seabed. Though no interactions between the litter and rare deep-sea life were observed, scientists warn that pollution at such depths poses a serious threat to marine ecosystems.
A team from the University of Barcelona used the high-tech manned submarine Limiting Factor to explore the Calypso Deep. The sub covered 650 meters in 43 minutes, revealing an alarming accumulation of waste.
Located 60 km west of Greece’s Peloponnese coast, the Calypso Deep sits in an area of high seismic activity. The trench, shaped like a kidney spans roughly 20 km by 5 km and features steep slopes thousands of meters high.
Professor Miquel Canals one of the study’s authors, explained that lightweight plastics travel from the coast and sink to the deep sea. Some plastic bags hover just above the seabed until they either disintegrate or get buried. Evidence of boats dumping waste bags was also found, leaving visible trails on the ocean floor.
Canals said “Unfortunately as far as the Mediterranean is concerned, it would not be wrong to say that not a single inch of it is clean”.
Scientists warn that since deep-sea pollution remains hidden from public view, it is often ignored in conservation efforts. They stress the urgent need for global policies to reduce waste and shift consumption habits to protect the planet’s oceans.
