Webconference #Ocean Calling

Maritime microplastic pollution

On Monday, January 30, 2023, live from the Hager Forum, Fabrice Amedeo and his science partners presented the results of the analysis of microplastic samples collected in the Atlantic whilst sailing the Vendée Globe.
Watch the replay below.

The speakers

Fabrice Amedeo

Skipper Vendée Globe

Sophie Lecomte

Director of the CBMN Institute, expert in vibrational spectroscopy

Jérôme Cachot

University Professor at the University of Bordeaux, Lab. EPOC

Christophe Maes

Research Fellow IRD, Lab. D'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale

Maria El Rakwe

Research engineer in chemometrics at IFREMER

Sailing for science

After completing his first Vendée Globe in 2017, Fabrice Amedeo wanted to give higher meaning to his sporting project: “I decided to add my modest brick to the immense edifice of what needs to be done to save our planet”, he remembers.

Fabrice, who sails all the seas of the globe and crosses remote regions where scientific expeditions cannot go, decided to put his 60' IMOCA at the service of the international scientific community. With the support of his partners, he installed oceanographic sensors on board his boat. Measuring and recording DNA, microplastics, CO2 content, salinity and changes in water temperature – the three oceanographic sensors installed make the best of every mile sailed.

The collected data allows scientists to better understand the impact of global warming, greenhouse gases and pollutants on the oceans.

Earlier results

Previously, using 300 µm filters, his collected 53 samples. The evidence, presented in March 2022 in Onet, showed that:

the surface waters of the Atlantic Ocean are twice as polluted by cellulose fibres as by microplastics

The North Atlantic is more affected by plastic pollution than the South Atlantic. This throws up new questions about the dynamics of the subtropical gyre (microplastic concentration zone) since the pollution levels measured there are lower than expected.

New findings

This time, Amedeo used 100 µm mesh filters to collect extremely small plastic residue.