For a new episode in this serie, we meet Emina Mamaca, a specialist in accidental marine pollution. She has a PhD in marine chemistry and is a scientific officer in Ifremer’s European and International Affairs Department.
“Women oceanographers (6/12). They have made the ocean their object of study, sometimes even their main concern. Physicists, chemists, geologists or biologists, they all contribute to improving our knowledge of the marine environment. océans connectés sets out to meet them all over France.
by Marion Durand.
One foot in the Ministry, the other in Ifremer. In between, the oceanographer treads the shores of the Black Sea. A marine chemist by training, Emina Mamaca has left the laboratory bench for a more political post combining project management, strategy and representation.
Since 2019, she has been a scientific officer in the European and international affairs department of the French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer). “It’s a job that wears several hats,” she says. She represents the needs of her institute to the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation. She defends the interests and supports the projects of the Department of Oceanography and Ecosystem Dynamics and those of the Department of Biological Resources and the Environment (for the pollutants/pollution section). “I help to write the scientific programme for the European Research Ecosystem and facilitate the creation of consortia. I’m involved in drawing up the European Commission’s work programme,” says the 40-year-old.
Knowledge sharing between european countries
One of Emina Mamaca’s tasks is to facilitate cooperation on Ifremer’s research activities with Eastern European countries, particularly in the Black Sea. This enclosed sea, bordered by six countries (Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Russia), is the focus of several European scientific projects.
Around ten Ifremer researchers and engineers are involved in the BRIDGE project, which is studying the biodiversity of the Black Sea, and the DOORS project, which aims to gain a better understanding of the gases dissolved in this area. European funding allows us to bring together countries with different interests around the same project,” says the doctor of chemistry, for whom the collaborative aspect is essential. These are countries with very different cultures. From a scientific point of view, not everyone has the same level of expertise or the same resources, so we have to show understanding and tolerance.
Emina Mamaca, 49, speaks fluent Turkish (her mother tongue), French and English. “Major research projects are increasingly European and there is a real desire to bring European science together. English is essential in our profession and it’s a real asset to be able to communicate in other languages.
In her twenty-year career at Ifremer, this Breton by adoption has held several positions with different missions, first working on accidental marine pollution, then in physical oceanography (head of the Euro-Argo office), before coordinating a project on microplastics.
“Marine sciences are very diverse. Within Ifremer there are different topics, you can change topics, carry out research projects in the laboratory or take a different path, as I am currently doing in the scientific strategy. There’s a certain flexibility that means you never get bored,” says Emina Mamaca, who dreamed of joining Ifremer when she was younger. “The advice I would give to students is to live your passion. If you’re passionate about the sea or oceanography, go for it and set no limits!
“When I was a little girl, I wanted to understand why the water in the sea was salty”
Emina Mamaca discovered this passion at the age of 8. Born in Sarreguemines in eastern France, the young girl spent her family holidays in Turkey, the country of origin of her parents. “One day I fell into the Aegean Sea and since then I’ve never left the sea and the ocean,” she says proudly. She remembers bathing in the sea strangely well: “The salty side of the water impressed me. I wanted to understand why it was salty, why there were fish and how they lived in such water! To answer these questions, the budding scientist read up on the mechanisms of the marine environment. This curiosity naturally led her to study oceanography.
After obtaining a DEA (postgraduate diploma) from the European Institutefor Marine Studies (IUEM) in Brest, Emina Mamaca went on to complete a chemistry thesis on the behaviour and effects of chemical marine pollutants at Cedre (Centre de Documentation, de Recherche et d’Expérimentations sur les Pollutions Accidentelles des Eaux).
She joined Ifremer in 2004 to contribute her expertise in this field. At the time, the issue was a major concern following the sinking of the Prestige oil tanker off the coast of Galicia in 2002 (63,000 tonnes of fuel spilled into the sea). “At the time of my thesis, we were doing a lot of in-situ projects in the port of Brest. We had floating cells in which we carried out experiments to find out about the behaviour of chemicals spilled by ships”.
In June 2010, Emina Mamaca co-authored with Michel Girin (former director of Cedre) the book “Pollutions chimiques accidentelles du transport maritime“, followed in 2011 by “Mieux combattre les marées noires“, published by Quae.
Emina Mamaca during a mission on Ifremer’s oceanographic vessel “Pourquoi pas? © Ifremer-Dugornay
Invisibile yet destructive pollution
Chemical pollution continues to degrade the oceans. Persistent organic pollutants (pesticides, industrial products, etc.) are carried to the sea by major rivers and catchment areas. All pathways inevitably lead to the oceans. We need to find solutions to ensure that industry releases less pollution into the environment,” says the oceanographer. A polluted environment is not good for anyone, not for the organisms that live in it and not for humans, because we are the last link in the food chain. We end up eating fish that may be contaminated by pollutants linked to human activities…”.
This invisible pollution is no less destructive. For this specialist, it is urgent to know “the level of contamination of the oceans” and for everyone to take action, at their own level, to reduce the various sources of pollution. “We cannot leave a planet so polluted to future generations”.
While she welcomes the European Union’s recent decision to recognise the concept of environmental crime or ecocide in its legislation, she regrets the European Commission’s decision on glyphosate: “It’s incomprehensible,” she says.
Presentation of the microplastics project by Emina Mamaca © Ifremer
In her own way, Emina Mamaca has chosen to fight for research. On a personal level, she prefers organic produce and tends a small vegetable patch in the family garden. Thanks to this green environment, the family is moving towards vegetable self-sufficiency. “There is no doubt that change will come from the people. It’s also up to individuals to raise their awareness. It’s up to us to decide that we shouldn’t eat apples that have been treated 35 times during the harvest.
For many scientists, it is sometimes difficult to be confronted with administrative delays or political inaction when they know so well the urgency of climate change. “It is not always easy,” replies the chemist, who notes that “there is a global awareness”, even if “economic issues sometimes get the better of us”.
For her, oceanographers must continue to raise public awareness. “We often see it through the prism of holidays or films, but the ocean is not just that, it plays a very important role in regulating the climate,” she reminds us, before concluding: “To work in marine science is to be an actor in society, an actor in the world we live in, but it is also an intellectual pleasure that builds the imagination in a mysterious world”.
TO READ IN THE SAME SERIES
Sabrina Speich, oceanographer : ” I’m not afraid to fight for the climate”
Sophie Cravatte, a professional life dedicated to the Pacific Ocean