NABU - Oceans without waste

For Naturschutzbund Deutschland e. V. (NABU) (Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union) we brought into being the infotainment project 'Seas without plastic', the aim of which is to inform people about the huge extent and the serious consequences of sea pollution by plastics. Rugia's coast can be explored interactively and lots of information on the issue and its consequences can be researched. This edutainment project delves particularly into the serious consequences for numerous sea and land animal species which confuse plastic waste with nourishment or choke on it.

More than ten million tonnes of plastic waste finds its way into global oceans from the land alone. Seabirds eat plastics and build their nests from it, turtles and dolphins become entangled in old rope or remains of fishing nets and an armada of micro-plastic floods the marine food web.

The North Sea and the Baltic See are also affected by this. On Fehmarn's beaches on a 100 meter coastline an average of 70 pieces of trash of different sizes are to be found; on the German and Dutch Wadden Sea coast it's almost 390 pieces, about three-quarters of it from plastics. Scientists estimate that on the North Sea bed alone lie more than 600,000 cubic metres of waste. An amount that could fill Cologne Cathedral 1½ times. And the stream of plastics doesn’t run out.

In order to offset somewhat against the trash issue before our own front doors, NABU created the project „Meere ohne Plastik“ (Oceans without Plastics) in 2010. Within this, NABU compiles information for and with fishermen and those who take part in water sports. NABU organises clean-up operations at beaches and riverbanks and supports environment monitoring in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.