It’s a holiday hotspot thanks to its balmy weather, beautiful scenery and delicious cuisine.
But the Mediterranean has become Europe’s deepest garbage dump, shocking images show.
Scientists have captured photos of litter at the bottom of the Calypso Deep, a trench 16,771ft (5,112m) below the surface of the Ionian Sea.
A total of 167 objects — made of plastic, glass, metal and paper — have been identified at the bottom.
This includes plastic bags, a plastic sack, plastic food containers, plastic cups and lids, plastic rope, paper cartons, metal drinks cans and glass bottles.
Experts warned their discovery represents one of the highest concentrations of marine litter ever detected at such great depths.
The team, from the University of Barcelona, used a high-tech manned submarine called Limiting Factor to reach the bottom of the trench.
Images captured by the deep-submergence vehicle confirm that, in addition to accumulating on coasts, the surface of the sea and in shallow waters, litter also reaches the deepest and most remote points of the Mediterranean.
Scientists have captured photos of litter at the bottom of the Calypso Deep, a trench 16,771ft (5,112m) below the surface of the Ionian Sea
A total of 167 objects — made of plastic, glass, metal and paper — have been identified at the bottom
It’s likely the litter comes from various sources, the researchers said.
It could be transported long distances by ocean currents or even dumped from nearby ships.
The Calypso Deep is a depression located 60km west of the Peloponnese coast in Greece.
It is surrounded by steep slopes and has a virtually flat bottom.
The deepest, most inner part of the trench is kidney-shaped and measured approximately 20km by 5km.
Professor Miquel Canals, one of the study’s authors, said: ‘Some light waste, such as plastics, comes from the coast, from where it escapes to the Calypso Deep just 60km away.
‘Some plastics, such as bags, drift just above the bottom until they are partially or completely buried, or disintegrate into smaller fragments.
‘We have also found evidence of the boats’ dumping of bags full of rubbish, as revealed by the pile-up of different types of waste followed by an almost rectilinear [straight line] furrow.
Experts warned their discovery represents one of the highest concentrations of marine litter ever detected at such great depths
The team, from the University of Barcelona, used a high-tech manned submarine called Limiting Factor to reach the bottom of the trench
‘Unfortunately, as far as the Mediterranean is concerned, it would not be wrong to say that ‘not a single inch of it is clean’.
He added that the trench ‘traps’ the litter that reaches it at the bottom due to its structure.
The trench also has a relatively weak current of around two centimetres per second, he said, meaning it is unlikely the litter will be moved on further.
The first evidence of debris on the world’s seabed dates back to 1975, in the Skagerrak Strait in the North Atlantic.
Today, the Mediterranean is a marine region particularly affected by this environmental problem.
In 2021, a study already identified the Strait of Messina as the area with the highest known density of marine litter in the world.
‘The Mediterranean is an enclosed sea, surrounded by humanity, with intense maritime traffic and widespread fishing activity,’ Professor Canals said.
‘The evidence provided by our research should shake up global efforts, and in particular in the Mediterranean, to mitigate waste dumping, especially plastics, in the natural environment and ultimately in the sea.’
He added that unlike other popular places such as beaches or the coastline, ‘the ocean floor is still largely unknown to society as a whole, which makes it difficult to raise social and political awareness about the conservation of these spaces’.
‘The problem is there, and it has an enormous scope, even if it is not directly visible,’ he said.
‘We should not forget about it.’
The findings were published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin.
