Divers remove discarded Champagne bottles from seabed

A group of divers off the Spanish island of Mallorca discovered that the seabed was littered with “thousands of Champagne bottles”.

 

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While undersea ageing may be something of a wine trend, unfortunately it is sometimes empty bottles that end up on the ocean floor.

Local news outlet Majorca Daily Bulletin reported that a clean up organised by Eco Projects Mallorca off Portals Vells saw 10 divers, headed up by Eco Projects Mallorca president Thomas Heise, take part in the operation.

Overall across two days of diving, 450 kilograms of rubbish was removed from the ocean, 80% of which was glass. A large part of that glass was made of, according to the report, “thousands of Champagne bottles”.

As for how these bottles ended up in the Mediterranean, it appears that they were cast overboard from luxury yachts over the years.

“People behaved worse then. After parties they threw the bottles into the water,” said Heise. “And they still throw bottles into the sea with total impunity.”

The cove of Portals Vells, on the eastern tip of the island, is a popular spot to anchor – according to Heise, around 50 boats visit each day.

Heise also revealed that there was still much work to be done, with only around a quarter of the rubbish spotted on the seabed removed.

Mallorca is taking an increasingly tough stance on tourists drinking. The Balearics recently introduced the prohibition of alcohol sales from 9.30pm each night in certain visitor hotspots in a bid to “correct uncivil attitudes”.

Occasionally, divers do strike proverbial gold and find unopened bottles of fine French fizz in the ocean, with one group exploring the Baltic Sea hitting the motherload when exploring a shipwreck.

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