At first glance, the cove of Cala Figuera in Mallorca’s Bay of Palma looks like a Mediterranean paradise, with sun-kissed boulders tumbling into glittering turquoise water. Take a closer look at its beach, however, and you will discover that instead of sand, it is comprised of heaps of plastic. Snarls of Posidonia seagrass tangle with plastic straws, fishing line, drink cups and syringes. Thousands of tiny plastic sticks from cotton swabs and lollipops are strewn like confetti across the beach. Dig into the top layer of sun-bleached plastic rubble and you will discover a rainbow of bottle caps, toys, tile spacers, cigarette butts and microplastics at least a meter thick.
“We’ve actually come on a good day and the sea is relatively clean,” said Brad Robertson, Founder and President of Asociación Ondine, a nonprofit ocean conservation organization based in Mallorca, Spain. “But you can see along [the beach] that there’s a whole array of… [plastic] pieces.”
Robertson brought the Mission Blue Expedition Team to Cala Figuera as part of Mission Blue’s recent expedition to the Balearic Islands Hope Spot—the first Hope Spot in the Mediterranean. Aboard the Bonnie Lass, Mission Blue and Asociación Ondine joined representatives from local stakeholder groups as well as two plastic pollution artist advocates-Pam Longobardi and Dianna Cohen.
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