The Paul Ricard Oceanographic Institute is an oceanographic institute situated on the

Île des Embiez The Île des Embiez () is a French island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is the largest island in the Embiez archipelago. It is located off the coast of the port of Le Brusc in the commune of Six-Fours-les-Plages, in the Var department in the Proven ...

. The island is in the

Var Var or VAR may refer to: Places * Var (department), a department of France * Var (river), France * Vār, Iran, village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Var, Iran (disambiguation), other places in Iran * Vár, a village in Obreja commune, Ca ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in the

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (; or , ; commonly shortened to PACA; en, Provence-Alps-French Riviera, italic=yes; also branded as Région Sud) is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, the far southeastern on the mainland. Its pref ...

region in South Western France. Founded by

Paul Ricard Paul Louis Marius Ricard (; July 9, 1909 – November 7, 1997) was a French industrialist and creator of an eponymous pastis brand which merged in 1975 with its competitor Pernod to create Pernod Ricard. Ricard was also an environmentalist and t ...

and Alain Bombard, the institute receives 25,000 visitors annually, and produces films and exhibitions to highlight marine life and issues. In an early case of

industrial pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

, "

red mud Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

" was discharged at sea off the coast of the town of

Cassis Cassis (; Occitan: ''Cassís'') is a commune situated east of Marseille in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, whose coastline is known in English as the French Riviera, in Southern France. In 2016, it ...

in Southern France. Industrialist

campaigned against the pollution, and in 1966 founded the Observatoire de la Mer, which later became the Paul Ricard Oceanographic Institute. The public aquarium at the institute was opened in 1973, it was the third aquarium on France’s Mediterranean coast. A research team was also created at the institute in 1973. An Urban Waste Treatment Plan for the

coastline was inspired by a film made by the institute in 1980, ''Pollutions et nuisances sur le littoral méditerranéen''. The institute helped develop a product to treat oil slicks in 1981, this was used on beaches in Alaska in 1989, and in 1995 the institute was awarded the Grand prix de l’Académie des Sciences for its work. The institute is currently studying the

fin whale The fin whale (''Balaenoptera physalus''), also known as finback whale or common rorqual and formerly known as herring whale or razorback whale, is a cetacean belonging to the parvorder of baleen whales. It is the second-longest species of cet ...

with the French branch of the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

, and researching the quality of coastal waters, with the monitoring of underwater ecosystems within the

Natura 2000 Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectively ...

scheme. In addition the institute also studies the reproduction of the

sea horse A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meaning "sea monster" or " ...

, the

sea urchin Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) of ...

, the Mediterranean pen shell, and has studied the impact of

desalination Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in Soil salinity control, soil desalination, which is an issue f ...

of sea water.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1966 establishments in France Aquaria in France Oceanographic organizations Museums in Var (department) Articles needing infobox zoo Organizations based in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur