ARKHANGELSK, October 29. /TASS/. Experts of the Kenozersky National Park and the Onega Pomorie National Park in the Arkhangelsk Region studied how waste spreads across the White Sea, the Kenozersky National Park told TASS. The specialists launched buoys with a GPS tracker from different locations to watch the waste movement.
"To show clearly where the waste comes from and how it gets into the water area, authors of the project "The Sea is Disturbed" together with the Marlin‑Yug Company, and specialists of the Marine Observation Systems Laboratory in Sevastopol have produced buoys with a GPS tracker. The research buoys were produced for the first time. They are similar to those used by polar explorers when they observe ice drifts. The buoys were launched six times to demonstrate to the Arkhangelsk Region's residents optional routes the waste follows in the White Sea," the national park said.
Most waste enters the White Sea from Arkhangelsk, Severodvinsk and Novodvinsk. Waste on the shore is either fishermen's waste (gear, improvised buoys and floats), or urban waste (bottles, food packages), or the waste people leave on the beach (rubber slippers), as well as "bio-loading stations from urban sewage treatment plants" (black plastic cylinders with petals).
On every buoy, the specialists left contact information as well as notes stating that it is safe and is part of the study. The buoys' routes formed into a map of six paths of a plastic bottle conditionally forgotten on the shore. The first buoy, launched at a crowded beach on the Yagry Island, was washed onto the shores of the Solza River the next morning - it has covered 21 km. A local village resident picked up the buoy. The second buoy passed 243 km and sailed to the Onega Peninsula. It was about to be picked near the town of Lopshenga, but the wind changed, and the buoy was blown back to Severodvinsk, where it was reported by people working for the local ship repair company.
The third attempt was to send a buoy from the Mudyug Island. It reached the village of Kuya, but the tide swept the buoy out into the sea 511 km from the place where it had been launched. On the 20th day of the trip, the Solovki Museum-Reserve staff found it. Further on, it was released from the Bolshoy Solovetsky Island, sailed 136 km, and was thrown onto dry land. During the second launch, the Solovetsky buoy reached the Murmansk Region and returned to the island after a week of travel. Buoy movements in real time during all the missions were available online.
"The project has helped everyone to see clearly how in a matter of days, potential waste, left on the shore, travels tens and hundreds of kilometers and ends up in unexpected places," the project's authors noted. The project's research was supported by the Presidential Nature Foundation.
