December 15th, 2020

Asset manager DWS has donated to Healthy Seas to help this important marine protection organisation buy its own boat. DWS has supported Healthy Seas since 2019 and as a result several sea cleanups were organized in Europe in cooperation with Ghost Diving, one of the founding partners of Healthy Seas. DWS decided to donate to the organisation this year instead of buying end of year gifts for its clients.

With the donation, Healthy Seas was able to buy its first own boat which will be operated by Ghost Diving volunteers. The boat is now docked in the Dutch port of IJmuiden and will increase the organizations’ efforts to free the world’s oceans from so-called ghost nets and save the lives of countless marine plants and animals. It has already achieved a great deal during this time with numerous salvage missions in various waters.

Pieter Furnée, Head of DWS Benelux says: “We really wanted to intensify the partnership with the organisation. So, we decided to not send end of the year gifts to our clients and instead donated the dedicated amount to Healthy Seas. This will ensure the organisation can plan its future recovery missions with more flexibility and independence. We are very happy with the enormous amount of positive feedback we received from our clients on this special donation. DWS has always been an advocate for tackling environmental issues. Not only plastic is killing our marine life. Ghost fishing gear is haunting our oceans at a greater scale than most people realise.”

MAKO – A shark that fights ghost fishing
The boat is named ‘MAKO’, inherited from its previous owner and which was kept because it is considered bad luck to rename a boat. MAKO turned out to be the perfect name for this ghost net recovery boat as scientific research shows that Mako Sharks are among the creatures at the most risk of getting entangled in ghost fishing gear.

Veronika Mikos, Director of Healthy Seas says: “The MAKO will serve multifunctionally as a means for Ghost Diving volunteers to carry out surveys and recoveries of lost nets but also by taking part in events to engage fishermen in ghost net prevention activities. Furthermore, it will be used for awareness raising and educational purposes and overall help us become more efficient in our operations by increasing the number of the diving trips per year significantly. Having our own boat is a dream come true!”

DWS and Healthy Seas want to raise more public awareness for the problem of lost or deliberately discarded fishing nets in the oceans. This collaboration should result in a sustainable contribution to the protection of the oceans and their creatures.
With a boat crowned with a name like MAKO, it’s only fair that it’ll steam ahead in breaking the ghost fishing entanglement cycle and try to prevent any sharks and other creatures to fall prey to this marine life tragedy.

Contact:
Jenny Ioannou
Communications Manager, Healthy Seas
tel. +30 6974992349
[email protected]

Barbara Kruseman
Senior Account Director, Stampa
T: +31 (0)20 404 2630
M: +31 (0)6 3018 5580
E: [email protected]

About DWS Group
DWS Group (DWS) is one of the world’s leading asset managers with EUR 759bn of assets under management (as of 30 September 2020). Building on more than 60 years of experience, it has a reputation for excellence in Germany, Europe, the Americas and Asia. DWS is recognized by clients globally as a trusted source for integrated investment solutions, stability and innovation across a full spectrum of investment disciplines.

We offer individuals and institutions access to our strong investment capabilities across all major asset classes and solutions aligned to growth trends. Our diverse expertise in Active, Passive and Alternatives asset management – as well as our deep environmental, social and governance focus – complement each other when creating targeted solutions for our clients. Our expertise and on-the-ground-knowledge of our economists, research analysts and investment professionals are brought together in one consistent global CIO View, which guides our investment approach strategically.

DWS wants to innovate and shape the future of investing: with approximately 3,400 employees in offices all over the world, we are local while being one global team. We are investors – entrusted to build the best foundation for our clients’ future.

https://www.dws.com/ghostnets/

Healthy Seas
The mission of ‘Healthy Seas, a Journey from Waste to Wear’ initiative is to remove waste from the seas, in particular fishing nets, for the purpose of creating healthier seas and recycling marine litter into textile products. The recovered fishing nets will be transformed and regenerated by Aquafil into ECONYL® yarn, a high-quality raw material used to create new products, such as socks, swimwear, sportswear or carpets. Since its founding in 2013, Healthy Seas has collected over 510 tons of fishing nets with the help of volunteer divers and fishermen.

Ghost Diving
Ghost Diving is an international non-profit organization of volunteer technical divers specialized in the removal of lost fishing gear and other marine debris since 2009. The organization was formerly known as Ghost Fishing.

https://www.ghostdiving.org/