Turtle dives no 12

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Protecting marine biodiversity in the Mediterranean since 1988

In this issue

Issue No. 12 (March 2013-Feb. 2014)

The Healthy Seas Initiative: From discarded “ghost fishing nets” to quality socks

Photo: Eric Leong/Marine Photobank

About 640,000 tons of abandoned, drifting fishing nets are currently wandering our seas and oceans. They can persist in our seas for hundreds of years, capturing and killing marine animals, smothering habitats and acting as hazards to navigation. Sea turtle entanglement, leading to injury and/or death is particularly high. Lost and abandoned nets create ecological problems for ecosystems and marine species. Usually recovered nets are dumped in landfills or incinerated. The Healthy Seas Initiative (healthyseas.org) is a joint venture of Environmental Non Governmental Organisations (ENGOs), including MEDASSET, and businesses whose objective is to remove waste, such as abandoned fishing nets, from the seas. The Initiative’s founders are the ECNC, European Centre for Nature Conservation (Land and Sea Group), AQUAFIL Nylon 6 producers (Italy) with Econyl Regeneration System Project and Starsock (Netherlands),

hosiery producers that focus on both environmental and economic sustainability. Salvaged nets will be transformed into high-quality nylon yarn with which new products can be created. The Initiative aims to identify procedures that will discourage the abandonment of redundant nets at sea and facilitate their responsible handling by recovering and recycling them into new products. Nets were recovered from the seabed or from shipwrecks, by a specialised marine salvage company in co-operation with divers or directly by divers working alone. Collection points were located at a harbour, inside containers. Finally the nets were cleaned and delivered to a plant in Ljubljana (Slovenia) to be prepared and delivered to the Econyl Regeneration System, ready for recycling. There is still a long way to go in cleaning our seas, but with innovative initiatives like this, we can afford to be very hopeful!

Lily Venizelos MEDASSET Founder

The Healthy Seas Initiative.....1 A new website for MEDASSET.....1 Advocacy: Conserving important sea turtle habitats.....2-4 New project: Wiki Loves Sea Turtle Monuments.....5 Research: Investigation of sea turtle deaths in Egypt.....5 Education: 2013 results.....6 Globetrotting poster.....6 Advocacy: Ending overfishing & the ‘blind spend’ in Europe.....7 Latest Publications.....7 Giving trash a second chance.....8 Fundraising: Events & Inspirational stories.....8 Supporters Corner.....9

A new website for MEDASSET… …was launched a few months ago. Visit www.medasset.org to learn all about our campaigns and research in the Mediterranean. Find out about the serious threats to marine life today and how to minimise your carbon footprint while going about your daily life. Start here: Introducing our team (www.medasset.org/en/meetmedasset/board-staff) Make a difference as a consumer (www.medasset.org/en/make-adifference/as-a-consumer) Where we work (www.medasset.org/en/meetmedasset/where-we-work) We hope you will take a minute to meet our partners in the private sector (www.medasset.org/en/sponsors). They make it possible for us to protect marine life in the Mediterranean.


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