Impressive results from Healthy Seas 2019 diving season
28/11/2019
This year, volunteer divers - from Dutch diving groups Ghost Fishing and Wrakduikteam Zeester – cleaned up 3,000kgs of fishing nets from North Sea shipwrecks, in cooperation with Healthy Seas; partly funded from the National Postcode Lottery which gives Healthy Seas Socks as a prize to its winners.
There were also 20,000kgs of nets collected by fishermen at Den Oever harbour, that went on to be processed by Norwegian company Nofir and regenerated by Italian yarn company Aquafil into Econyl Yarn, a sustainable raw material used to produce sportswear.
In addition, education programmes take place in the Netherlands throughout the year, raising awareness about ghost nets and the circular economy as a solution to marine pollution.
Ghost Fishing chapters have now been established globally, following the example of the Dutch volunteer divers and aiming to reduce the devastating effects to marine life from the reported 640,000 tonnes of fishing gear that is left abandoned in the seas and oceans each year.
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