Ghost Diving’s volunteer divers have taken part in what organiser the Healthy Seas Foundation says was its biggest project of 2025 – cleaning up a large abandoned fish-farm in the Saronic Gulf near Methana in Greece.
The overall team removed a “floating scrapyard” consisting of more than 40 tonnes of waste. The bulk of this was made up of the 18 plastic industrial fish-rings and nets removed by the divers, and the remainder consisted of items such as buoys, tyres, two sunken boats, pipework and Styrofoam.
Apart from detaching the rings and nets, Ghost Diving’s task was to survey the debris beneath the surface and film the underwater operation.
The site’s former operator had left the farm to deteriorate after its licence was revoked. The project came about when Healthy Seas teamed up with the Athanasios C Laskaridis Charitable Foundation, which carries out large-scale coastal restoration and marine conservation projects and provided its boat Typhoon for the operation.
Twelve industrial containers were filled with the remnants of the fish-farm, along with additional waste collected from a highly polluted nearby beach.
After finishing the operation early, 21 members of the Typhoon crew and Healthy Seas team spent an additional three hours gathering 16 large bags of fishing-industry and general waste along the shore.
Most of the recovered materials will be recycled, with suitable fishing-net and other discarded nylon regenerated into Econyl yarn by Aquafil and plastics recycled locally.
Operation Ghost Farms
Healthy Seas launched its Operation Ghost Farms initiative in 2021 to tackle pollution from abandoned aquaculture sites across Greece. Methana was its fifth such intervention, all sponsored by Hyundai Motor Europe.
“Each ghost farm we clean is different, but they all share a common story: pollution left behind when no-one takes responsibility,” said Healthy Seas director Veronika Mikos. “This mission in Methana shows what can be achieved when local knowledge, global experience and shared values come together.”
Healthy Seas says that in 2025 it extended its educational programme to 435 students and professionals through eight events in the UK, Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain.
The operation also contributed to the Laskaridis Foundation’s own Saronikos Project to map and restore the marine environment of the Saronic Gulf.
“Marine pollution is a multi-layered problem that extends far beyond what is visible on the surface,” commented Peggy Xirotagarou, the foundation’s executive director. “It mostly expands under water, invisible and silent, deteriorating the marine environment for years to come.
“Ghost farms are a clear example of this hidden threat, and the Methana mission highlights both its scale and the importance of effective collaboration in addressing it.”
