![TOPSHOT - In this photo taken on May 13, 2020, Gary Stokes, founder of the environmental group Oceans Asia, poses with discarded face masks he found on a beach in the residential area of Discovery Bay on the outlying Lantau island in Hong Kong. - Surgical masks are washing up in growing quantities on the shores of Hong Kong, a city that has overwhelmingly embraced face coverings to fight the coronavirus. Conservationists say the masks are adding to already alarmingly high levels of plastic waste in the waters around the finance hub. (Photo by Anthony WALLACE / AFP) (Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images)](https://static.sky.it/images/skytg24/it/ambiente/2020/10/07/plastica-oceani/plastica-mare-getty-hero.jpg.transform/hero-mobile/8d8dc162d8d5c130eff4521c245cd453898c6400/img.jpg)
Ambiente, 14 milioni di tonnellate di plastica in fondo agli oceani: lo studio. FOTO
A rivelarlo è una nuova ricerca pubblicata dall'agenzia scientifica governativa australiana, CSIRO. L'analisi dei sedimenti oceanici fino a 3 km di profondità, suggerisce che la quantità di rifiuti presenti nei fondali potrebbe essere 30 volte maggiore rispetto a quella presente in superficie. LA FOTOGALLERY
![1228728661 LIVORNO, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 26: A soccer ball in the wood and plastic debris in the sea that people tried to collect voluntarily because of their love for the environment after a storm on September 26, 2020 in Livorno, Italy. People collected debris after the Tuscan coast was hit the previous evening by a storm before the institutions intervened and stopped them due to safety reasons. (Photo by Laura Lezza/Getty Images)](https://static.sky.it/images/skytg24/it/ambiente/2020/10/07/plastica-oceani/01_plastica-mare-getty.jpg.transform/gallery-horizontal-mobile/82b7d266020ca7f677876632f081c671a6767ae2/img.jpg)
Oltre 14 milioni di tonnellate di microplastica sarebbero presenti sui fondali degli oceani di tutto il mondo. É questo il risultato della ricerca condotta dall'agenzia scientifica governativa CSIRO pubblicata suIla rivista Frontiers in Marine Science.
![1224648738 A diver collects plastic waste at the San Nicolas beach in Adra near Almeria on July 4, 2020. (Photo by JORGE GUERRERO / AFP) (Photo by JORGE GUERRERO/AFP via Getty Images)](https://static.sky.it/images/skytg24/it/ambiente/2020/10/07/plastica-oceani/02_plastica-mare-getty.jpg.transform/gallery-horizontal-mobile/37298256fd57814dc9f9970eec9f6cded6600ab1/img.jpg)
La quantità di microplastica, secondo l'equipe che ha condotto lo studio, sarebbe trenta volte superiore rispetto a quella che galleggia in superficie. Intervistata dal The Guardian, la dott.ssa Denise Hardesty, principale ricercatrice del CSIRO e coautrice della ricerca, ha sottolineato come la presenza della microplastica in zone tanto remote e profonde "indica l'ubiquità della plastica, non importa dove ti trovi nel mondo”
![1170576782 TOPSHOT - In this photograph taken on September 14, 2019 plastic waste and trash is seen on Versova beach in Mumbai. - Facing severe flooding as sea levels rise, authorities in India's financial capital Mumbai are building bunds and restoring coastal mangrove trees to protect the vulnerable mega-city. (Photo by PUNIT PARANJPE / AFP) / TO GO WTIH: UN-climate-India-science-oceans-Mumbai, FOCUS by Vishal MANVE (Photo by PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP via Getty Images)](https://static.sky.it/images/skytg24/it/ambiente/2020/10/07/plastica-oceani/04_plastica-mare-getty.jpg.transform/gallery-horizontal-mobile/258a423c6ca19d0676acda822c8671fbe86f43de/img.jpg)
La ricerca condotta dalla CSIRO, ha raccolto e analizzato i nuclei del fondale oceanico di sei siti a circa 300 km dalla costa meridionale del paese nel golfo noto come Grande Baia Australiana
![966600776 A picture taken on June 2, 2018, shows people walking on a beach covered with trash, including many plastic items, in the Hann Bay in Dakar. - World Environment Day is marked annually on June 5, and aims at promoting awareness and action to protect the environment. Each World Environment Day is focused on a theme that spotlights a pressing environmental concern, with the theme for 2018 being Beat Plastic Pollution". (Photo by SEYLLOU / AFP) (Photo credit should read SEYLLOU/AFP via Getty Images)](https://static.sky.it/images/skytg24/it/ambiente/2020/10/07/plastica-oceani/06_plastica-mare-getty.jpg.transform/gallery-horizontal-mobile/e3f197bf8d00a0a7353ab92083f535976d9df1a2/img.jpg)
Sono prevalentemente due le categorie di microplastica esistenti: la primaria che deriva da prodotti che già contengono queste particelle (oggetti di cosmesi, dentifrici, caucciù); oppure la secondaria che è il risultato della frammentazione di prodotti plastici più grandi
![675523870 This photo taken on May 1, 2017 shows a discarded plastic bottle in the Port-Cros natural park. - An emblematic fish of the Mediterranean Sea, the Merou, victim of poaching and pollution, with 66 groupers counted during a first counting operation in 2004, more than 320 in 2016 during the last census of the species in the Calanques national park. (Photo by Boris HORVAT / AFP) (Photo credit should read BORIS HORVAT/AFP via Getty Images)](https://static.sky.it/images/skytg24/it/ambiente/2020/10/07/plastica-oceani/10_plastica-mare-getty.jpg.transform/gallery-horizontal-mobile/923403bf353da024ed47d1b612082fd1ef5773e0/img.jpg)
Secondo le stime dei ricercatori, sulla base della quantità rinvenute nei vari rivelamenti, potrebbero esserci fino a 14,4 milioni di tonnellate di microplastica sui fondali oceanici del mondo
![1217571702 RED SEA, EGYPT - APRIL 2004: A spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris) is swimming just below the surface with plastic waste on its dorsal fin on April 08, 2004 off Egypt, Red Sea. Plastic waste is catastrophic for marine animals which can cause serious injuries and also their death, by strangulation or suffocation. (Photo by Alexis Rosenfeld/Getty Images)](https://static.sky.it/images/skytg24/it/ambiente/2020/10/07/plastica-oceani/08_plastica-mare-getty.jpg.transform/gallery-horizontal-mobile/3eed5cc2137f7dabbb1eba84f380fb6f348849d8/img.jpg)
"Bisogna assicurarsi - ha spiegato ancora la dott.ssa Hardesty - che i nostri oceani non diventino una grande spazzatura". L'obiettivo deve essere fermare questo fenomeno alla fonte perché, dalle analisi effettuate, "non è possibile stabilire da quanti anni queste microplastiche si trovano sui fondali, né a che tipo di oggetto appartenessero una volta"
![964534392 JAKARTA, INDONESIA - MAY 31: A Heron and a man fish near the coast which has been inundated with plastic trash on the northern coast on May 31, 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Indonesia has been ranked the second biggest marine polluter in the world behind only China with reports showing that the country produces 187.2 million tonnes of plastic waste each year. Like many developing countries Indonesia lacks the infrastructure to effectively manage their waste and the problem has become so severe that the nation's army has been called in to help clean-up when its rivers and canals were clogged with dense masses of bottles, bags and other plastic packaging. According to studies there could be more plastic in the sea than fish by 2050, while actual plastic particles might be in our seafood as fish consume bits of plastic which are coated in bacteria and algae, mimicking their natural food sources. (Photo by Ed Wray/Getty Images)](https://static.sky.it/images/skytg24/it/ambiente/2020/10/07/plastica-oceani/09_plastica-mare-getty.jpg.transform/gallery-horizontal-mobile/8fb773b112074ab1f47c8c3e2326038ce3cae184/img.jpg)
"La forma dei pezzi al microscopio suggerisce che una volta erano articoli di consumo", ha detto Hardesty. "Può sembrare una cifra grande, ma in realtà è molto minore rispetto alla quantità di plastica che ogni anno raggiunge l'oceano"
![1001892426 Seagulls search for food near a sewage discharge area next to piles of plastic bottles and gallons washed away by the water on the seaside of Ouzai, south of Beirut on July 19, 2018. - Many Lebanese nationals are refraining from heading to the beach this summer after reports about high levels of pollution along the country's Mediterranean coast, despite reassurances from government officials that the beaches remain safe. (Photo by JOSEPH EID / AFP) (Photo credit should read JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images)](https://static.sky.it/images/skytg24/it/ambiente/2020/10/07/plastica-oceani/13_plastica-mare-getty.jpg.transform/gallery-horizontal-mobile/7ac929f950bfc991e1258bcbdfd23cc51c014b40/img.jpg)
La minaccia riguarda l'intero ecosistema marino. La plastica più grande può intrappolare la fauna, mentre le microparticelle possono essere ingerite da specie diverse, dal plancton alle balene
![1219152653 SAINT-MARTIN, FRENCH ANTILLES - NOVEMBER 2017: Franck Roncuzzi, a member of the French Agency for Biodiversity and head of environmental police who works at the Marine Natural Park of St. Martin is diving to take a stock few weeks after hurricane Irma on November 14, 2017, Saint-Martin, French Antilles. During his dive, he noticed a lot of debris from boats or other objects from the island. (Photo by Alexis Rosenfeld/Getty Images)](https://static.sky.it/images/skytg24/it/ambiente/2020/10/07/plastica-oceani/14_plastica-mare-getty.jpg.transform/gallery-horizontal-mobile/f1c54726126ac23d6c70ae79c15eecf8ae80f235/img.jpg)
A settembre, i leader di oltre 70 paesi hanno firmato un impegno volontario per intervenire e provare a bloccare la perdita di biodiversità. Tra gli obiettivi primari c'è anche l'eliminazione dei rifiuti di plastica dagli oceani entro il 2050
![633601394 VENICE BEACH, CA - JANUARY 30: A seagull pecks at a plastic bag just off the coast of California on January 30, 2017 in Venice Beach, California. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)](https://static.sky.it/images/skytg24/it/ambiente/2020/10/07/plastica-oceani/15_plastica-mare-getty.jpg.transform/gallery-horizontal-mobile/3546fe7628864a6fb5810f0f05799b6286121023/img.jpg)
Tra i Paesi che non hanno firmato l'impegno c'erano gli Stati Uniti, il Brasile, la Cina, la Russia, l'India e l'Australia
Balene spiaggiate in Tasmania, le operazioni di salvataggio. LE FOTO