Civil Protection: the third phase of recovery of the eco-bales in the Gulf of Follonica is underway

(To Marina Militare)
19/10/20

Today, October 19, the operations carried out by the Navy resumed, for the search and subsequent recovery of bales of secondary solid fuel (eco-bales), dispersed 5 years ago by the motor ship Ivy in the Gulf of Follonica.

The Steering Committee coordinated by the head of the Civil Protection Department Angelo Borrelli, has given the green light to the third phase of the operations, which began last August 6 and which first saw the specialized assets of the Navy engaged in the phases of research, localization, identification and recovery of 12 eco-bales. In a second phase, in September, a campaign was also held for the mapping of the seabed developed by the technicians of the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (Ispra), the National Research Council (Cnr) and of the Port Authorities.

This week the operations will focus on the recovery of an ecoballa located on the seabed east of the island of Cerboli but not recovered in August due to the particular difficulties caused by the conditions of the seabed.

The activities carried out in the stretch of sea in front of Piombino and, under the coordination of the Department of Civil Protection, involve Nave Antaeus and the minesweeper Termoli, with the divers of the Diving Operations Group of the Navy, the Ministry of the Environment, the Tuscany region, as well as vehicles and personnel of the Harbor-Guardia Marina.

In parallel, verification operations will continue, through the use of a remotely controlled submarine (ROV), of the targets identified by previous research, in order to confirm, or to be able to reasonably exclude the presence of further eco-bales.

During the last intervention in the area of ​​the Navy vehicles, last August, the investigations involved an area of ​​over 20 km², tripling the extension of the original research area and 51 underwater contacts were analyzed, of of which only 13 were eco-bales, while most turned out to be rocks of similar shape and size. Further research, carried out by CNR and ISPRA technicians and researchers, through the use of multibeam sonar, brought the total of the investigated areas to about 130 km².

The activities carried out so far, supported by continuous monitoring and control by Ispra and ArpaT researchers and technicians, have allowed the recovery of approximately 15 tons of waste.