More information
Description
As one of UNESCO''s World Heritage Sites, Nessebar is a city of cultural and historical importance. Its natural landscapes, however – both on shore and underwater, have been affected by the plastic pollution so pervasively occurring over the years. Reports show that tires, old fishing nets, ropes, plastic bags, cables, fishing boat parts, metal objects, bottles and cans lie on the seafloor, and some of the litter has partly or completely been buried in the modern sediments.
The project sought to reduce marine litter by physically removing it by trained divers. Prior to diving, a sensing survey was carried out to track the visible waste on the seafloor, its distribution in Nessebar aquatory and the most polluted areas. The Municipality conducted test strip excavations to assess the volume of waste in the sedimentary layers and will carry out an intensive public outreach campaign.
Another crucial step in getting the general public familiar with the project’s goals was the outdoor exhibition of posters and a recording of a lecture, aimed both at raising awareness among the population about the negative impact of pollution on the cultural and natural heritage in the water area, held on the territory of the fishing port "North Buna – Nessebar”.
Further information was provided through the dedicated project website:
Summary of project results
One of the major challenges is the reduction of marine waste in the aquatory of Nessebar.
In order to reduce the marine waste, the Municipality of Nessebar cleaned the water area of the city through several diving campaigns. They were preceded by remote sensing survey aiming to record all visible litter objects on the seafloor, the distribution of litter object in Nesebar aquatory, the most affected areas. The chosen areas for cleaning were divided in sectors that were cleaned by divers and accompanying boats. In order to implement an integrated design solution, the Municipality of Nessebar also conducted trenches excavation for assessment of the litter volume within the sediments, respectively all collected data from excavations, geophysical surveys and diving actions to be summarized in an analysis of the impact of waste on nature and cultural heritage and conducted a public awareness campaign.
A meeting-debate was organised with local fisherman,archeologists, biologists, representatives from the local community and municipality of Nessebar in order to increase the awareness of the waste issues.
Also an art exibition with posters was organised in the newly renovated northern fisherman port, both pictures of the organised clean up initiatives and information of how waste affects the natuyral and cultural heritage were included as well.