On Sunday 14 May, EU DG MARE staff, including Director General João Aguiar Machado, were joined on the Belgian coast by hundreds of EU colleagues and their families for the first major beach clean-up organised by the European Commission. EU embassies around the world have also been invited to host similar events and help raise […]

Children at De Bloemaert primary school in the Netherlands, are spending this month learning about ‘plastic soup’ and the problem of ghost fishing nets. Lessons will focus on keeping nature clean, the effects of litter on nature, and the problem of plastic soup – the plastic litter that is polluting seas and oceans. The programme […]

Healthy Seas was an Exhibitor at Duikvaker Expo last weekend (4-5 February) at Expo Houten. The biggest diving event of the Netherlands had its 25th anniversary this year. The event attracted ca. 15.000 visitors, 100+ exhibitors and 80 speakers from all over Europe. Together with our partner Ghost Fishing, we were spreading the word about […]

On Wednesday 25th January, around 120 children and parents from the Annie M.G. Schmidtschool and day-care centre 2Samen participated in our Healthy Seas beach clean-up. They bravely faced the cold for more than an hour, collecting over 330 kilograms of litter from the Dutch beach of Scheveningen. Upon return they weighed their bags at the […]

Healthy Seas presented its journey from waste to wear at the Green Bubbles Open Workshop in Portofino (26-27 September) while raising awareness about marine litter and showing that in circular economy waste is a resource. The workshop hosted 50+ participants from academia, diving industry, authorities, press and NGOs. The event offered a great opportunity to […]

Healthy Seas was represented at the SeaWeb Seafood Summit 2016 in Malta on 1-3 February 2016 where Commissioner Vella emphasized that the “EU is leading the fight against illegal fishing”. Healthy Seas together with a group of dedicated divers is making huge efforts to tackle the issue of ghost nets and collect as much as […]

The ECNC Group and the Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE) together with MEDASSET (Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles), Aquafil and Nofir held a workshop at the European Maritime Day 2015 entitled “Innovative business models for marine litter in Europe”. The growing threat of marine litter and derelict fishing gear […]

It is not common to see a red scorpionfish in the shallow waters of the Adriatic Sea, but there he was struggling to be saved from the fishing net where he was trapped. This adventure started long before the meeting with our Scorpion fish friend. It started nearly 2 years ago when  Healthy Seas was in […]

Marine litter, in particular derelict fishing gear, is a growing environmental threat, posing risks to wildlife and humans and impacting crucial economic sectors, such as fisheries and the maritime sector. This year, the European Maritime Day will focus on the role of ports and coasts as gateways to maritime growth, addressing job creation, sustainability and […]

On April 30th, Healthy Seas met with students at the A.Volta middle school in Ancona, Italy to explain how the initiative works and to talk about the collaboration with local fishermen at Ancona Harbor and DeFishGear. Maria Giovanna Sandrini from Aquafil explained the dangers of ghostnets and why it is important to recover them and […]

From November 13-14, 2014, Healthy Seas attended and supported the inaugural roundtable meeting of the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI) in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Organized by World Animal Protection, the roundtable meeting brought together UN agencies, industry leaders and non-governmental organizations to address the growing issue of ghost gear in oceans. The initiative aims to achieve […]

With the Port of Ancona promoted as national ‘collection point’ and trawl vessels becoming involved for the benefit of the environment, the Adriatic Sea becomes a pioneer throughout the Mediterranean for the recovery and regeneration of abandoned fishing nets lying on the seabed. This initiative is made possible thanks to a unique partnership between researchers, […]