The Marine Science Center at the University of Basra organized an international workshop on plastic waste pollution in seas, rivers and water sources in cooperation with the Southern Region Environmental Protection and Improvement Department, the Kuwait Regional Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment (ROPME) and the Bahrain Maritime Emergency Assistance Center (MEMAC). The workshop aims to introduce the harmful effects of plastic waste on life in the marine and river environment, as well as its impact on human health. The workshop dealt with the dangers of collecting plastic waste on the coasts and the coast and its damage to the ecological balance due to the lack of decomposition of plastic materials in the salty or fresh waters and the merging of its fine particles with the food of fish and other aquatic organisms. The workshop showed the extent of the economic damage caused by pollution to the growth of the tourism sector, fishing and navigation in the waters of the Shatt al-Arab and the Arabian Gulf
