In the west of the Greek capital Athens, the fish market of Keratsini is busy early in the morning, with trucks waiting nearby to be loaded with fishes. But on his fishing boat, Arapakis sorts out something different—bottles, boots, plastic pipes and fishing nets, all dragged from the bed of the Aegean Sea.
“We are swimming in plastic,” said Arapakis, whose family has fished for five generations. “By 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the sea,” he said, as recent reports noted.
That morning’s plastic catch weighed “about 100 kilograms,” said the founder of Enaleia, a nonprofit that encourages fishermen to collect marine (海洋的) waste caught in their nets. Since its establishment in 2018, it has worked with more than 1,200 fishermen in Greece to raise concern over the degradation of the marine environment.
Active in 42 ports throughout Greece, Enaleia provides fishermen with large bags for marine waste that they can put in garbage cans once back at port. For every kilogram of plastic they deliver, they receive a small amount of money, which is enough for a drink. Since October, fishing crews have dragged out 20 metric tons of plastic and old fishing equipment each month. Nearly 600 tons have been collected over the last five years. The collected plastic is transported to a recycling plant in the industrial area of Megara near Keratsini, to make new products such as socks, swimwear or furniture.
Arapakis said he went about the cleanup project after a trip to Greece’s Cyclades islands, where he saw fishermen throwing the waste gathered by their nets back into the sea.
Arapakis is convinced there has been a “mentality change” among Greece’s fishermen. “Previously we caught large quantities of plastic, but we only kept the fish. All waste was thrown into the sea,” said Mokharam, team leader on the Arapakis family’s boat. “The project brings practical benefits for fishing boats. In the past, the anchor was often caught by waste, especially nets, and the engine would go out. But now things have changed,” he added.
8. What can we learn about Arapakis from the first 2 paragraphs?
A.He was a successful fish trader. | B.He collected waste from the sea. |
C.He liked swimming in the sea. | D.He had a large family to support. |
9. What does the underlined word “degradation” in paragraph 3 mean?
A.Impact. | B.Worsening. | C.Improvement. | D.Research. |
10. What will most probably happen to the collected waste in the end?
A.It will be sold at a high price. | B.It will be exchanged for food. |
C.It will be thrown back into the sea. | D.It will be well dealt with for reuse. |
11. What can we infer from Mokharam’s words?
A.Fishing is a tough job for fishermen. | B.The sea in Greece is seriously polluted. |
C.He thinks highly of the cleanup project. | D.He still feels ashamed for fishermen’s behavior. |