Tara Microplastics – To the sources of plastic pollution

Mission microplastics 2019: to the sources of plastic pollution
But where do the plastics in the sea come from and what is their impact on marine ecosystems?
From the ocean to the continent, Fondation Tara Océan is carrying out the survey and tracing the source of ocean plastic over the nine major rivers of Europe.

Tara Microplastiques

Teaser

Tara Microplastiques

The highlights

From fragmentation in the rivers… to dispersion in the ocean

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The mystery of plastic, the research continues<

We estimate that 80% of plastic waste in the sea originates on land. It is therefore urgent to trace the escapes of plastic waste into the sea to staunch this haemorrhage more efficiently.

Tara dessine un point d'interrogation en pleine navigation

©François Aurat

The highlights

From fragmentation in the rivers… to dispersion in the ocean

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Tara carries out the investigation: to the sources of plastic pollution

The schooner Tara sailed around Europe for six months to collect more than 3,000 samples. The four European seaboards were gone over with a fine-tooth comb, with samples taken from the land-sea continuum of the nine main European rivers.

La goélette tara échantillonne sur le Tibre

©François Aurat

The highlights

From fragmentation in the rivers… to dispersion in the ocean

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Microplastics under the microscope

40 scientists from different disciplines will try to identify the sources of pollution, understand the fragmentation in the rivers and predict the dispersion of microplastics towards the ocean.

Triage des microplastiques dans les échantillons prélevés lors de Tara Microplastiques.

©Samuel Bollendorff

The highlights

From fragmentation in the rivers… to dispersion in the ocean

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Invisible biodiversity in danger

The studies on the chemical and biological threats of the accumulation of micro- and nano-plastics are still in their early stages. The risks to environmental and therefore human health currently remain uncertain, while the quantity of plastic in the ocean continues to rise.

Vue au microscope d'un échantillon contenant du plastique

©Samuel Bollendorff

The highlights

From fragmentation in the rivers… to dispersion in the ocean

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The DNA of the plastisphere<

As with other projects carried out aboard Tara, exhaustive DNA sequencing was performed by Genoscope (France) to build the “Tara Plastisphere database” which brings together the results from previous expeditions.

Mélanie traite les échantillons lors de l'expédition Tara Microplastiques

©Noëlie Pansiot

The highlights

From fragmentation in the rivers… to dispersion in the ocean

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Plastics in the sea, the solutions are on dry land

We now know that it’s impossible to rid the ocean of all the plastic it contains. The solutions are therefore upstream and on dry land!

The highlights

From fragmentation in the rivers… to dispersion in the ocean

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Science in action

It is crucial to raise the awareness of the citizens of today and tomorrow and encourage them to take action. More than 20,000 people changed the way they think about the problem of plastic pollution and considered the solutions during the stopovers and other events in the course of the mission.