One and a half tons of waste recovered from the seabed of Santa Teresa Bay within the Gulf of La Spezia: here is the result of the extraordinary cleaning operation, promoted by Fineco And LifeGate within the scope of Water Defenders Alliancein collaboration with Smart Bay Santa Teresa conducted by ENEA and other research bodies, Water green and the Underwater Operations Group (GOS) from the Navyand also thanks to the support of Municipality of Lerici. The initiative made it possible to clean up the seabed from different types of waste: in addition to the “usually found” waste, the bulky waste which come from the storms of 2018 and 2019. Among these, for example, i sunken remains of a self-propelled jetty, a “signal beacon”, that is, a large rigid buoy, and several truck tires, usually used as “low-cost fenders”. Over the years, the fury of the storms has managed to stir things up such heavy debris pushing them in the Santa Teresa Bay precisely because of its strategic positioning.
Fineco and Lifegate: 1.5 tons of waste removed from the Gulf of La Spezia
Paolo Di Grazia, Deputy General Manager and Head of Global Business Fineco, he has declared: “We are convinced that everyone’s contribution is fundamental to solving complex problems such as the protection of the territory, but it is essential to combine this with the support of specialized operators such as those who were involved in the La Spezia operation. The result was the creation of a concrete initiative for the protection of the habitat and waters of our seas, which clearly reflects the approach chosen by Fineco in promoting environmental sustainability actions”.
The bay is also home to the former Smart Bay of Italyan extraordinary model that combines research, technology, sustainable tourism and shellfish farming, thanks to the collaboration between scientific and institutional entities such as AENEAS, Cnr, INGV, Municipality of Lerici, Santa Teresa Sea School And Associated Mussel Farmers Cooperativeunited to make the Smart Bay Santa Teresa a laboratory for counteract the effects of climate change and show the way to protection of marine biodiversity.
There Smart Bay Santa Teresa is among the first scientific partners of Water Defenders Alliancea project promoted by LifeGate with the purpose of defend and save Italian waters from three serious threats: plastic pollution, that from hydrocarbons and the fragility of natural habitats. The alliance involves companies, citizens, ports, marine protected areas, institutions, universities, associations and research bodies. From the beginning Fineco has become a “Water Defender” and since 2021 has participated in the project by adopting the best technological solutions present in Italy to capture floating waste within Italian ports and marine areas, from north to south of the country. This year, with the expansion of the challenges proposed by LifeGate as part of the new initiative Water Defenders Alliance, Fineco decided, among the first in Italy, to invest in the health of Italy’s water assets, becoming an all-round “Water Defender”. In fact, the solutions that will be implemented thanks to your participation will be different and in different territorial contexts.
For Smart Bay Santa Teresa, the removal of large waste covers a environmental but also scientific value: thanks to the project, in fact, in addition to improving the conditions and quality of the environment marinethe risk that the sophisticated underwater sensors located in those waters for research projects could be damaged by the movements of this large debris is reduced.
The initiative will also have repercussions educational character for the students who stay in the bay and the users who experience it in the various seasons of the year. The size, weight and volume of this large waste makes this operation something much more complex than cleaning the seabedso much so that the underwater activities were managed by COMSUBIN Underwater Operations Group (GOS). from the Navystationed at Spice, who secured the material and then entrusted it to SEPOR who hoisted it on board its own vessel. Recovery on land and correct disposal in landfill was then followed by GCEa company specialized in the collection and management of hazardous and non-hazardous, urban and special waste, with proven professionalism and many years of experience in the sector.
The entire operation was documented by the divers of Water greenclose collaborators of LifeGate within the scope of Water Defenders Alliance. A pool of such high and transversal skills that will allow Smart Bay Santa Teresa to continue activities and expand projects of international importance inspired by the principles of Nature Based Solution (NBS), Habitat Restoration And climate change mitigation.
Emilio Mancuso, marine biologist, president Water green and collaborator LifeGate observe: “It is with great pleasure that I follow the developments of Smart Bay Santa Teresa since its inception and today seeing all these high-level professionals taking care of it leaves me with the joy of imagining which and how many wonderful ideas can be experimented from now on, with positive consequences for the territory and for us who the more we learn from the sea and the more Let’s learn for our future.”
