Healthy Seas Foundation and its partners have concluded their year-long “Operation Ghost Farms – Reclaiming Waters” project with what the foundation says was a comprehensive clean-up at Menidi, in the Gulf of Amvrakikos in western Greece.
Ghost farms are abandoned fish-farms left to degrade at sea, pollute coastal areas and cause significant damage to marine flora and fauna and local communities, says Healthy Seas.
The Menidi clean-up was the third of its kind to be led by the foundation in 2024 but, unlike the previous operations, carried out in Ithaca and Patras, it targeted a farm that had only recently been abandoned, before there had been time for severe degradation to occur.
Volunteers from the organisation Ghost Diving worked to recover nets, detach them from the rings and document the process under water and at the surface with their cameras. Apart from the nets, they reclaimed from the sea 35 large buoys, 43 floating rings and numerous other items, including a half-sunken maintenance boat.
Volunteers on land tackled coastal litter that included broken polystyrene foam from the fish-farm and general household waste.
Fishing-nets and some other items can be recycled into Econyl regenerated nylon by foundation partner Aquafil. Pipes and other structures can also be recycled.
Local outreach
In association with the clean-up, as with others in the past, Healthy Seas also organised educational programmes with local primary schools and a university workshop, as well as two harbour clean-ups in Astakos and Mytikas with the support of a local diving partner.
The mission was a collaborative effort between the foundation, Hyundai Motor Europe and other partners including Aquafil, Diopas, Ozon, the European Outdoor Education Hub, We Dive We Clean, Odyssey Outdoor Activities and Dotank Plus.
“This year has been remarkable,” commented Healthy Seas director Veronika Mikos. “With three major clean-ups and many educational programmes we've made an incredible impact, not only in removing waste but also in raising awareness among communities and the next generation. We are grateful to our partners and volunteers for their commitment and hard work.”
The six-day October operation involved 35 people collecting 128.5 tons of marine litter, of which 50.9 tons were fishing nets. The May clean-up, with 30 people working over eight days, had collected 42.7 tons (11.3 tons of nets).
“Together with 150 partners and nearly 550 dedicated volunteers, we have collected 991 tons of fishing nets and other marine litter since our inception in 2013,” reports Healthy Seas.
Also on Divernet: DIVERS BUST GHOST FARM 2 IN ‘RETURN TO ITHACA’, DIVERS ANSWER EPIC CLEAN-UP CALL, GHOST SQUAD STRIPS NET OFF LAMPEDUSA WRECKS
