A paradise, dream places that have always been considered the symbol of beauty. The Caribbean, however, hides another face. A real sea of waste surrounds the Caribbean islands, as illustrated by the images taken by photographer Caroline Power off the coast of the Cayos Cochinos marine reserve
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himA paradise, dream places that have always been considered the symbol of beauty. The Caribbean, however, hides another face. A real sea of waste surrounds the Caribbean islands, as illustrated by the images taken by photographer Caroline Power off the coast of the marine reserve of the Cayos Cochinos.
The latter consist of two islands and fourteen coral islets located about 30 km north-east of La Ceiba, on the northern coast of Honduras. The islands are part of a protected marine reserve. The coral reef they are part of is the second largest in the world and is known as the Meso-American coral reef.
Caroline, who specializes in underwater photography, has dedicated her career to highlighting the damage plastic waste is doing to our oceans. So you recently immortalized the horror that lurks off the coast of Honduras, between the islands of Roatan and Cayos Cochinos.
The boat he was on crossed an expanse of waste, mostly made up of plastics.
"Seeing something I love so deeply damaged, slowly smothered to death by human waste was devastating," he said to the Telegraph. "Once the waste ends up in the ocean, it is incredibly difficult and expensive to remove."
The solution would be to avoid all of this by improving waste management, environmental education and recycling facilities on a global scale.
This is what can be found when visiting one of the most pristine dive sites in the Caribbean. The photographer went through a sea of garbage about 10 km wide:
“Everywhere we looked, there were plastic bags of all shapes and sizes and other packaging. Some were whole and the rest were in pieces. Unfortunately, many turtles, fish, whales and sea birds do not notice and mistake them for food ”.
The Blue Planet Society, an organization aiming to end fishing and overexploitation of the oceans, believes the waste came from Guatemala's Motagua River, which ended up in the sea during heavy rains.
READ also:
- THE DISCONCERTING IMAGES OF PLASTIC WASTE IN THE SEA
- POLLUTION OCEANS: IN 2050 THERE WILL BE MORE PLASTIC THAN FISH
- THE PLASTIC ISLAND IN THE PACIFIC IS LARGER THAN THE UNITED STATES
The photographer has deliberately made her images known, also through social networks, to show what we are doing to our planet:
"If we don't change our behavior now, we will have more plastic than fish in the ocean."
Francesca Mancuso
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