Fabio and Davide unroll the woolen cloth on the dock, twenty meters white framed on a profile by a very thin blue tape. Here the workers of the Terralba municipality drill a hole with a screwdriver, at regular intervals of one and a half meters. A line segment is passed through the eyelets and then knotted. The size of the strap is calculated on the rising tide. Head by head the cloth is secured to the concrete structure of the dock, passed under the tires used as a fender, covering the rusty chains. Davide flattens himself on the wooden slats, Fabio works from the bow of an old boat. Until the long skirt hangs from the quay, which immersed for five centimeters in the water takes part in the small motion lifted by the breeze. Not far away, a spot of gasoline floats, iridescent. If not for the workers and some curious fishermen who approach the workers to ask about the novelty, Marceddì is immobile, a hallucination under the blue sky.
"In the water there are petrophagous bacteria that can break down the oil molecules, but they are scattered. The oil absorbers Geolana create a natural habitat that the bacteria colonize. Here, thanks to the ideal conditions of humidity and hydration, they can reproduce even for a year while breaking down the hydrocarbons. In the meantime, the material is consumed and the oil is biodegraded”, explains Leonardo Ruggeri, Geolanadistribution manager who came to oversee the last phaseof fixing, which began some months ago. The "banners" are just one of the products of the Geolana mare series produced by the avant-garde Sardinian company. The oil-absorbers of sheep's wool and vegetable fibers (the cork from Ottana favours flotation for heavier models) have been designed for the depollution of sea and lakes and the daily prevention of micro-spills in ports. A kilo of wool can neutralize up to 17 kilos of hydrocarbons. A revolutionary product for its perfect circularity: made in Sardinia with zero km industry (Edilana biotechnology) uses Sardinian wool underlayings, otherwise unusable and destined for disposal, deriving from the selection of the production of yarns, carpets and fabrics.
The oleo-absorbers banners have all the compulsory ministerial authorizations. Being Marceddì part of a protected area, the installation needed all the specific local authorizations (R.A.S Local institutions Department, R.A.S Agricultural Department, R.A.S Environment Evaluations, Porth Authorieties of Oristano and the permission from the local fishermen consortium), which have been obtain by the Terralba Municipality. The banners are one of the guiding projects carried out by the MEDSEA Foundation within the MARISTANIS project, and in particular of the 5.2 strategy, committed to identifying and combating the sources of pollution in the wetlands of Oristano.
"Hydrocarbons move at fast speed over water. The banners intervene not only on the hydrocarbons spilled by the recreational boats, and to a lesser extent by the fishingones, they also neutralize those coming from the open sea. “One liter of oil can stretch out to occupy a surface as wide as a football field”, explains on the quay Giorgio Massaro, an expert in environmental sciences at MEDSEA. "The film that hydrocarbons form on the surface of the water prevents gas exchange. It is not unusual to see a mullet rising to the surface and gasping, ‘sniffing’ as local fishermen say, to take oxygen. The ultimate danger is diffused death. But the poison is transmitted in the food chain, and by bioaccumulation the victims who ends up suffering the most are the human beings".
The Island made of mussels in Corru Mannu's pond began to be populated by birds
Little tern, common tern, sandwich tern, rosy gull and black-winged stilt are some of the bird species that have found a home in Corru Mannu in recent weeks. Thanks to…
Sardinian Wetlands, the best way to protect them is "to manage them"
Cagliari, 04.02.2023 – Le zone umide sono ecosistemi acquatici sempre più rilevanti, conoscerli meglio è il primo passo per tutelarli, ma non è tutto. “Serve uno strumento di gestione” per…
The II D from Terralba Institute visited the Old Tower of Marceddì as prize for Terre d'Acqua school contest 2022
Learning about the role of these precious and very important ecosystems, as well as the specificities of the large wetland area of Oristano. In recent days we have accompanied the…
Maristanis was showcased at the Ramsar COP 14 on wetlands during a side event
The 14th meeting of the Ramsar Wetlands Conference (COP14) was held in Geneva from 5 to 13 November 2022, simultaneously also in Wuhan, China. At the International Conference Center in Geneva (CICG) all…
Learning from the Maristanis's model in the ENSERES's visit exchange
Two days to study an integrated management model of marine-coastal systems, two days to strengthen ties and develop new strategies for a sustainable future of the Mediterranean. The Italian stage…
A step forward for the Maristanis project, towards the Regional Park of wetlands in Sardinia
The Municipal Council of Oristano, on the proposal of the Councilor for the Environment Maria Bonaria Zedda, has launched the participatory process and the preparatory actions necessary for the establishment…
Evaluating ecosystem services by the TESSA Methodology in Arborea
How to understand the effects on natural capitals and actual and potential state changes of individual sites important in promoting decisions to support both biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service provision?
Terre D'Acqua 2022, the winners of the school contest within the Maristanis Project
With 87 works, of which 84 in the drawing category and 3 in the comics category, the MEDSEA Foundation's Terre D’Acqua 2022 Competition ends. The school contest took place from February…
The Sardinian farms met in Arborea under the sign of Sustainability
This is the year of relaunch for the La Fiera dell’agricoltura di Arborea (Agricultural Fair of Arborea), one of the most important thematic fairs in Sardinia that promotes the productive, agro and…
Maristanis in the news: Rai and Italia 1 dedicated ample space to the Maristanis Project
The Italian press gave ample space to the Maristanis project in recent months, the Oristanese wetlands and its most important project Maristanis were told in various national and local television reports on…
The winner of the World Wetlands Day in Sardinia 2022 Contest
With a picture taken in the Oristanese lagoons representing a group of flamingos and the sentence "They come / They come back / Sometimes they stop / Like nomads /…
Over 700 visitors for the World Wetlands Day Calendar
Over 700 visitors in the World Wetlands Day collective calendar, put together by the MEDSEA Foundation, as part of the Maristanis project last February, with the aim of promoting the precious…
The World Wetlands Day 2022 in Sardinia lasts a month, the events Calendar
As every year, the World Wetlands Day on the anniversary of the RAMSAR convention (of 1971, Feb. 2nd) calls and Sardinia, in particular the Oristanese area, replies within the Maristanis project that…
World Wetlands Day in Sardinia, from 2 to 27 February join the competition #WWDSardegna on Instagram
In the occasion of the World Wetlands Day which celebrates ponds and lagoons in the world next February 2, the MEDSEA foundation launches the contest on wetlands in Sardinia with the hashtag #WWDSardegna to…
MAVA Steering Committee in Provence: Sardinia was promoted with the Maristanis project
MEDSEA foundation, which has been carrying out the Maristanis project in the Oristano area in Sardinia since 2017, attended last week the yearly meeting of the MAVA steering committee. The session took place from 16 to 17 December 2021 in Châteauneuf-le-Rouge, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and gathered together the…
Terre d'Acqua, a wetlands school competition for students in the Oristanese
On February 2, the World Wetlands Day will be celebrated once again the Oristanese wetlands region. To recall the central role of wetlands in addressing climate and environmental crisis and to raise awareness of the importance of these basins especially in this west coast side…
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4