Based on surveys conducted since 2017 in the coastal waters of Georgia, Ukraine, Russia, and in the open sea, the EU said 83 percent of the marine litter is plastic: "namely bottles, candy wrappers, and bags."

Ukraine's large rivers bring six to 50 items of trash per hour to the sea.

Also, the European sturgeon, which was considered almost extinct, was found in many samples across the Black Sea.

"The obtained results of the surveys should contribute" to improving the "status of the Black Sea…as well as to global understanding of current risks and threats to [the] marine ecosystem," said Jaroslav Slobodnik, the EU project’s leader.

The EU Black Sea monitoring project runs through 2020 and has a budget of 1.6 million euros.

Maritime Business World