Alice Gapail and Nicolas Beublet won the first prize in the General Competition category, 19-25 years old, journalism course, for their report entitled Man and technology mobilized against ghost nets.
Ghost nets represent 10% of plastic waste at sea, according to the United Nations. On the French Mediterranean coastline, 1,500 of them have been listed. A non-exhaustive figure. These losses are problematic for the marine ecosystem. When a net sinks, it fishes unnecessarily, disturbs the flora, and its slow degradation generates microplastic waste. For fishermen, the cost is significant: between 2,000 and 3,000 euros.
On the Mediterranean coast, fishermen, divers, scientists and entrepreneurs are acting on both the causes and consequences of the problem.
