{"id":24558,"date":"2019-09-16T17:44:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-16T15:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/?p=24558"},"modified":"2024-04-22T15:46:54","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T13:46:54","slug":"discover-tara-port-marseille","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/discover-tara-port-marseille\/","title":{"rendered":"Discover the research schooner Tara and her new microplastics mission in the Old Port of Marseille on 27 September"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What: <\/strong>A press conference on the new Tara mission on microplastics and the Tara Ocean Foundation\u2019s cooperation with EMBL. The press briefing will be followed by a visit to the schooner.
When: <\/strong>Friday 27 September at 13:00 CEST.
Where: <\/strong>The press conference will be held on the Tara schooner in the Old Port of Marseille – in front of the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations, Mucem<\/a>.
Who: <\/strong>The press conference will be attended by:o    Romain Troubl\u00e9, Executive Director of the Tara Ocean Foundation
o    Yannick Schwab, EMBL Team Leader and Head of Electron Microscopy Core Facility
o    Val\u00e9rie Barbe, CEA\/Genoscope, genomics researcher
o    Elisabeth Ayrault, President and CEO of Compagnie Nationale du Rh\u00f4ne (CNR)

Registration: <\/strong>To participate in the conference, please register by sending an email to pressoffice@embl.de<\/a> before 25 September.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During several expeditions, the Tara schooner collected microplastics in her nets which made it clear that microplastics are ubiquitous throughout the ocean all over the world. Now, Tara and her scientific partners will identify the sources of microplastic in European rivers and assess the impact of microplastics on marine biodiversity and the food chain.

The Tara crew is currently gathering samples at the mouths of 10 major European rivers: the Thames (UK); the Elbe and Rhine (Germany); the Seine, Loire, Garonne and Rh\u00f4ne (France); the Tagus (Portugal); the Ebro (Spain); and the Tiber (Italy). The collected microplastics will provide clues to identify their origin, find the densest concentrations of microplastics and target them. This will help us to fight the microplastic problem at its sources.

In Marseille, Tara will not only gather samples of microplastics from the Rhone, but also present the new mission to journalists, stakeholders, schools and public authorities to raise awareness of this increasing threat and the reasons we need to preserve the ocean.

This stopover is also an opportunity to discover the interdisciplinary research of EMBL, major partner of the Tara expeditions and the place where the idea for Tara Oceans expedition (2009\u20132013) was born. This project was initiated by EMBL group leader Eric Karsenti, who led the mission\u2019s scientific activities. EMBL drives visionary fundamental research and technology development in the life sciences from six sites across Europe \u2013 one of which is EMBL Grenoble<\/a>, which has a research focus on structural biology methods using X-ray and neutron crystallography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

** FRENCH VERSION **<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tara, la go\u00e9lette scientifique fait escale \u00e0 Marseille du 27 septembre au 2 octobre<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u00c0 bord de la go\u00e9lette<\/strong>
vendredi 27 septembre 2019<\/strong>
13h – Vieux port \u2013 \u00c0 quai devant le Mucem – Marseille<\/strong>

La Fondation Tara Oc\u00e9an vous invite \u00e0 d\u00e9couvrir la Mission microplastiques 2019 et les recherches men\u00e9es avec ses partenaires scientifiques internationaux dont le Laboratoire Europ\u00e9en de Biologie Mol\u00e9culaire – EMBL – et le CNRS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cette nouvelle mission explore les fleuves europ\u00e9ens depuis mai dernier afin de comprendre l\u2019impact de la pollution plastique et ses origines. Pourquoi les fleuves ? Parce que l\u2019on estime que 80 % des plastiques retrouv\u00e9s en mer viennent du continent.<\/p>\n\n\n