Teams of divers recently carried out a fantastic underwater cleaning project beneath the surface of Heraklion’s Venetian Port. The divers brought to the surface what can only be described as a submerged disgrace upon the city and the Region of Crete. Fortunately, the government agencies, the NGOs, the divers, and other groups seem ready to deliver more comprehensive regenerative campaigns.
The cleaning project, carried out by the environmental arm of the New Democracy government, several groups of volunteer divers, and in cooperation with the cleaning company MEPP Environmental, and the volunteer divers brought up myriad sunken debris, including everything from soda cans, car tires, and metal debris of unknown origins.
According to MEPP and government representatives, this Venetian Port project is only a starting point for a more comprehensive program to improve environmental strategies and sustainable solutions. Greece’s Deputy Minister of Development, Maximos Senetakis, witnessed the stunning discoveries first-hand. The video from MEPP below offers hope that all of Greece’s seas can be rejuvenated to their once pristine states.
The level of carelessness revealed by the MEPP operation is easier to understand if one considers the overall degradation of the seas around Crete. This Archipelagos – Institute of Marine Conservation report entitled “Alarming Extent of Plastic Pollution in the Greek Seas” asks whether Greece’s biggest island has become an “Idyllic Tourist Destination or Open Landfill?” This quote from the article synthesizes the concerns of the various entities’ concerns for this extraordinary paradise.
“Greece – which should be a competitive and idyllic tourist destination – continues to provide the embarrassing picture of open landfills in so many areas, both during the tourist season and the rest of the year. Scattered waste is found everywhere, at sideways of urban and rural roads, in tourist and coastal areas and highly biodiverse ecosystems, but also next to archaeological sites, while most of this culminates in the sea.”
For those unaware, Greece buries about 80% of its refuse while other European countries have managed to reduce this number to about 1%. The debris found at the bottom of Heraklion’s Venetian Port consisted (in part) of items that could be recycled. The alarming situation all over Crete and in the seas surrounding the island is the result of decades of inadequate waste management. Another huge factor, a less obvious one, is an almost total public apathy where the island’s degradation is concerned. Any American driving any road on Crete will instantly be reminded of the 1960s and a time when littering fines did not exist. Put bluntly, it’s a trash heap that keeps getting larger in and out of the cities and villages.
The obvious solution to Crete’s current state of environmental degradation is simple, but difficult. Once the work of companies such as MEPP is done, the only way to a regenerative future is addressing the source of the problem. Government funding of projects like the Venetian Harbor example will be crucial. However, without public education and cooperation and programs aimed at overall regenerative practice, our beloved island will become that open landfill and an offshore sewer for swimmers, fishermen, and kiteboarders.