Ghost nets kill millions of marine animals each year. On June 8th, World Oceans Day, Healthy Seas together with Cousteau Divers, with the support of Italian fabric manufacturer, Carvico S.p.A, will live stream from the island of Santorini in Greece, and show the world how divers remove these deadly traps.

Expert divers from Ghost Fishing supported by Atlantis Dive Center will undertake the highly demanding diving mission of recovering the nets. The circular economy initiative Healthy Seas will deliver these nets to Aquafil which will transform and regenerate them in to ECONYL® yarn to then be used by Carvico for the production of swimwear.

Everyone is invited to tune in on June 8th at 11 am (UTC+3) to the innovative live stream event of Facebook as Pierre-Yves Cousteau takes the public on a journey above and beneath the waves. The public can also send their questions using #SaveYourBreath on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

During a survey dive in 2016, Ghost Fishing divers spotted discarded fishing gear in several popular diving spots around Santorini. On June 8th, an international team consisting of 8 divers will return to remove them and help protect the island’s fragile marine environment. Greece is the home to many endangered species which hugely contributes to the ecological importance of the seas in the Eastern Mediterranean. Sadly, the unique biodiversity is put into danger because of human activity, including lost or discarded fishing nets in the seas.

The Healthy Seas initiative has been operating for 5 years in the Netherlands, Belgium, UK, Italy and Greece. During this time, volunteer divers and fishermen together have recovered 375 tons of fishing nets from the seas and from land, the equivalent in weight of 2 blue whales.

The event is being held under the auspices of the Municipality of Thira (Santorini) and the Goulandris Natural History Museum, and exclusively sponsored by Carvico.

Mrs Laura Colnaghi Calissoni – Chairman of the Board and CEO of Carvico S.p.A stated: “Our company has always implemented a set of environmental policies aimed at safeguarding our planet environment. Since 2015, coherently with our corporate mission, we have been one of the proud stakeholders of Healthy Seas. Promoting the 8 June event to be held in Santorini means concretely taking action to preserve the environment with a twofold purpose: removing ghost fishing nets from the sea and creating several sustainable, recycled fabrics in a virtuous cycle which performs today to make a better future, because Nature has got its rights and we must listen to it.”

The Malta National Aquarium and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (showing at the Book Castle - National Library of Greece) will join the World Oceans Day celebration and screen the “Healthy Seas: Save Your Breath” live stream at their premises. Other educational institutions are welcome to join.

Invitation to the Press: The Press is invited to join the team in Santorini to capture images as well as interview the participants.
Healthy Seas and Cousteau Divers would like to thank the sponsor and supporters of the Santorini event: Carvico S.p.A., Aquafil S.p.A., Seascape Subsea Technology B.V., Oia Sunset Cruise, Fishermen Association of Santorini, Santorini Marine Protected Area Association, Primary School of Oia, Port Authority of Santorini, Boatmen of Santorini, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

Photos and Press kit available here
 

Video available here
 

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Contact
Jenny Ioannou Communications coordinator Healthy Seas Tel: +30 6974992349 Email: jenny.ioannou@healthyseas.org
Veronika Mikos Project coordinator Healthy Seas Tel: +31 6 30 48 07 95 Email: veronika.mikos@healthyseas.org

Notes to Editors:

Healthy Seas

The mission of 'Healthy Seas, a Journey from Waste to Wear' initiative is to remove waste, in particular, fishing nets from the seas for the purpose of creating healthier seas and recycling marine litter into textile products. The recovered fishing nets will be transformed and regenerated by Aquafil into ECONYL® yarn, a high-quality raw material used to create new products, such as socks, swimwear or carpets.

The discarded, lost, or abandoned fishing nets are sometimes called “ghost nets”, since they continue to catch fish and other marine animals without human involvement. Millions of marine animals, including sharks, dolphins, seals and turtles suffer because of entanglement in these nets which leads to serious injuries and death eventually. Every year, some 640,000 tonnes of fishing gear is left in our seas and oceans. It’s plastic waste which remains in the seas for hundreds of years and doesn’t biodegrade.

Cousteau Divers

Founded in 2009, Cousteau Divers is a non-profit worldwide community of divers and dive centers united to study and protect marine life. By making each diver an agent of the study and conservation of the aquatic realm, Cousteau Divers brings the legacy of Jacques-Yves Cousteau to life.

Carvico

Carvico SpA is an Italian textile company established in 1962, specialized in the production of performance fabrics for beachwear, sportswear and outerwear. Carvico mission is to offer the market a collection of innovative, high end, high performance products which are also eco-friendly. The environmental policies implemented focus on the health and wellbeing of the company staff, of the local communities and of the global ecosystem and have translated into several, concrete sustainability projects.

Ghost Fishing

Ghost Fishing Foundation is an international non-profit organization, executed by volunteer technical divers, which initiates, supports and promotes lost fishing gear removal initiatives in oceans, seas and local waters. Since 2012 they have run lost fishing gear survey and removal projects in the North Sea, Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Pacific Ocean in cooperation with various environmental organizations and with the support of a continuously growing group of volunteer technical divers.

Atlantis Dive Center

Atlantis is member of PADI, SSI and ANDI, the most trusted diving organisations worldwide. Its founder, Apostolos Stylianopoulos, is member of Cousteau Divers and Atlantis is one of the few Cousteau Dive Centres in the world. Their commitment to protecting the environment is proven not only by their accreditation but also from their unyielding support of the Santorini MPA project.

For more information visit:
www.healthyseas.org/save-your-breath-santorini
www.cousteaudivers.org
www.ghostfishing.org
www.atlantisoia.com
www.carvico.com
www.econyl.com
www.aquafil.com