Seminar focuses on ways to tackle marine pollution

As the Posidonia international shipping exhibition entered its second day on Tuesday, and on the occasion of World Environment Day, the Norwegian Embassy in Athens and a Greek conservation group organized a seminar on how to tackle marine pollution. 

Dozens of delegates attended the event at the Divani Apollo Apollon hotel in Kavouri, where memories of last September’s oil spill from the Aghia Zoni II tanker are still fresh. 

In his address, Norwegian Ambassador Jorn Gjelstad referred to a series of initiatives that have been embraced by Norwegian companies such as the Hurtigruten cruise operator, which has banned the use of any extraneous plastic on its vessels. 

Christina Prekeze, a spokeswoman for the Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association, which co-organized the seminar, said that curbing marine pollution demanded efforts “from every shipowner, every charterer, every passenger.”