Brazil fishermen turn to mobile app to combat pollution scourge

Guanabara Bay (pic), a natural port of about 400 square kilometers, battles pollution not only from visiting vessels and oil rig accidents, but also from old ships abandoned in its waters and runoff from cities. — AFP

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian activist and fisherman Alexandre Anderson uses one hand to steer his boat, and the other to film an oil stain spreading over Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay.

He will upload the video to an app developed to expose environmental damage in the iconic bay crucial for tourism and the fishing industry, but plagued by spills of oil, chemicals and untreated wastewater.