A generous donation by asset manager DWS, has made it possible for us to buy our own boat! It is a dream come true because it will help us become more efficient in the North Sea, where Healthy Seas began.
The boat will be operated by the volunteers of Ghost Diving. Up to now, the divers relied on boat charters for their cleanup projects. Besides being costly, booking charters is very complicated due to their limited availability in The Netherlands. Because of the unpredictable weather conditions in the North Sea, having our own boat means that Ghost Diving will be free to schedule their operations, even in the last minute.
The boat is now docked in the Dutch port of IJmuiden undergoing maintenance and soon a fresh redesign that will ultimately be decided by DWS employees, giving them a chance to be part of this game changing moment for Healthy Seas.
DWS has been supporting Healthy Seas since last year in tackling the ghost fishing phenomenon in various ways, including organizing recovery missions and educational programmes. They decided to donate to us again this year instead of buying end of year gifts for their clients.
MAKO – A shark that fights ghost fishing
The boat is named ‘MAKO’, a name inherited from its previous owner that we kept because it is considered bad luck to rename a boat. MAKO turned out to be the perfect name for our ghost net recovery boat as scientific research shows that sharks are among the animals at high risk of getting entangled in ghost fishing gear.
Through this collaboration, DWS and Healthy Seas aim at protecting the seas and marine life while also raising public awareness about the problem of lost and abandoned fishing nets.
More information about our partnership with DWS is available here: https://www.dws.com/ghostnets
