48Bags of rubbish collected during Diego Garcia beach clean by volunteers © Heather KoldeweyUnderstanding and SolvingPlastic PollutionThe marine science programme has co-funded researchon the plastics impact on wildlife, focused on sea turtles,in the Chagos archipelago since 2019. Currently we aresupporting a Darwin Plus Local-funded project which isassessing the feasibility of bringing a technical solutionto the issue of beach plastic waste on Diego Garcia. Withthe amount of plastic pollution arriving on the shoresof remote islands from other countries and shipping,technology offers a route to turn this waste into usefulitems and alleviate the pressure on vulnerable wildlife.Heather Koldewey speaking at the Third OceanDecade Foundations Dialogue Meeting in Monaco© Prince Albert II Foundation MonacoMarine Science PhD student Jessica Savage (ZSL/RoyalHolloway, University of London) has been working ondata collected by the marine science programme teamover the last few years to describe the types and sourcesof beach plastic items found in the Chagos Archipelago– particularly drinking water bottles. She has usedinformation on bottles, from labels, barcodes, and othermarkings, to determine their origin. To groundtruth thesefindings, we released ten satellite-enabled pollutiontrackers that represent 500ml plastic water bottles.These are giving live, real-time data over two years tobetter understand the movements and routes of plasticpollution in the archipelago and beyond. Findings fromthis research have been synthesised into policy briefingsfor the current Global Plastics Treaty negotiations.Recreational fisheriesThe marine science programme is providing logisticaland dive safety support to a Darwin Plus-funded project‘Improving reef resilience through sustainable fisheriesmanagement on Diego Garcia’ led by Dr David Curnick(ZSL) with Bangor University and the University of Guam.The team are conducting impact assessments of thefisheries around Diego Garcia, including dive surveys(benthic surveys and diver-operated stereo video),analysis of available fisheries data, developing biologicalreference points for key species by measuring, weighingand documenting reproductive state of fished samples,and participatory mapping of key fishing areas. Social
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