The Problem

One could draw an analogy between the perilous ten-year journey of king Odysseus back to his homeland Ithaca and the environmental catastrophe that the contemporary inhabitants of the island have faced for the last 10 years, which peaked when a cyclone ravaged through Western Greece.

In 2012, an aquaculture was abandoned in Ithaca, degrading the natural environment, neglecting fish farming cages and other equipment, leaving them exposed and susceptible to weather conditions. In September 2020, Ianos, a hurricane-force storm caused the tons of industrial type of plastic pipes, fishing nets, nylon ropes, concrete blocks, plastic buoys, large rusty metal pieces and all kinds of waste to be carried away, later to be found floating on the surface of the sea, laying on the seabed and on the beaches. The pollution of the area has had immeasurable consequences for the marine ecosystem and the local community.

© George Lilas / Odyssey Outdoor Activities

(c) George Lilas/ Odyssey Outdoor Activities

© George Lilas / Odyssey Outdoor Activities

The Solution

The contemporary journey to Ithaca involves a team of 40, most of them volunteers including 20 divers, modern day heroes whose mission it is to fight for a better world, against all obstacles, by cleaning up seas and oceans, benefiting marine life and humanity.

When Healthy Seas learned about the devastation, we decided to mobilise all our forces, bringing together environmentalists, local authorities, and sponsors and make our journey. With support from Hyundai Motor Europe, we organised our biggest cleanup operation to-date to restore the beautiful island and to help the locals. We were not alone in this endeavour. Technical volunteer divers from the Ghost Diving Foundation travelled to Ithaca from the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Lebanon and Croatia to lead the underwater cleanup efforts, joining forces with local divers from Greece. Together with sustainable fishing startup Enaleia, we organised beach cleanups. Kefalonia Fisheries, a company that operates on the nearby island, welcomed Healthy Seas’ invitation and supported the operation with logistics. Other local stakeholders were also strongly involved in the efforts, including Odyssey Outdoor Activities, Aquatic Dive Center, the Municipality of Ithaca and Prefecture of Ionian Islands. The entire project was held under the Auspice of the Hellenic Ministry of Maritime Affairs.

The recovered fishing nets will be regenerated by Aquafil, together with other nylon waste, into ECONYL® yarn, the basis for new sustainable products. In the framework of Enaleia’s Mediterranean Cleanup Project, the rest of the collected marine plastics will also be integrated into the circular economy.

On World Oceans Day (June 8th) we organised a public event to bring attention to the issue of marine litter, ghost nets and the importance of clean and healthy seas and engage the local community. The programme included a welcome from the Mayor of Ithaca and activities for children and adults, like arts/crafts and the Healthy Seas state-of-the-art Virtual Reality experience.

The Partners

Related News

Getting Social

To countdown to World Oceans Day on Instagram, we collaborated with visual artist Niccolò Galvan for the creation of a unique artwork. The seamless collage concealed subtle clues to the location of our big cleanup project!

Healthy Seas report

Would you like to have your photo featured on our website and be part of our mission?
Post your favourite beach or island photo, tag @healthyseas and add #journeytoithaca

Design: Journey to Ithaca, inspired by the poet Constantine Cavafy. Illustration niko.mainaris #koukoutsi #tshirt #illustration #organiccotton #journeytoithaca

Design: Journey to Ithaca, inspired by the poet Constantine Cavafy. Illustration niko.mainaris #koukoutsi #tshirt #illustration #organiccotton #journeytoithaca ...

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Cleaning up an #isolated beach during the #ReturnToIthaca 🌅

As you may know, marine #plastic can travel in the sea for a long time and then end up on a #beach… 

🏝️That’s one of the reasons that even the most isolated beach can be covered in #garbage 

🌊That’s one of the reasons we incentivise #fishers with our Mediterranean CleanUp to limit their regular activity and instead collect marine plastic from remote #beaches and #coastlines!

But cleaning up the remote beaches and coastlines during the #ReturntoIthaca with Healthy Seas was a different situation!

These clean-ups can allow us to understand the devastating impact of #abandoned fish farms! The majority of marine plastic we collected was debris like fish farm #nets, #rings, #cages, and other equipment spreading over multiple areas since the #fishfarm drifted away. 

#Fishers and volunteer #divers focused on 14 different locations on the island, including the ghost farm and the harbor of Vathy, collecting in total, about 23,500 kg of waste. 🙏

Let’s bring the problem to the surface and raise awareness about ghost farms and put an end to them! ➡️ shorturl.at/jswVX

healthyseas ghostdivingorg odysseyactivities kefalonia_fisheries vibrant_kefalonia #enaleia #togetherwiththefishers #journeytoithaca #returntoithaca #plasticfreeoceans #ghostnets #ghostfarm

Cleaning up an #isolated beach during the #ReturnToIthaca 🌅

As you may know, marine #plastic can travel in the sea for a long time and then end up on a #beach… 

🏝️That’s one of the reasons that even the most isolated beach can be covered in #garbage 

🌊That’s one of the reasons we incentivise #fishers with our Mediterranean CleanUp to limit their regular activity and instead collect marine plastic from remote #beaches and #coastlines!

But cleaning up the remote beaches and coastlines during the #ReturntoIthaca with Healthy Seas was a different situation!

These clean-ups can allow us to understand the devastating impact of #abandoned fish farms! The majority of marine plastic we collected was debris like fish farm #nets, #rings, #cages, and other equipment spreading over multiple areas since the #fishfarm drifted away.

#Fishers and volunteer #divers focused on 14 different locations on the island, including the ghost farm and the harbor of Vathy, collecting in total, about 23,500 kg of waste. 🙏

Let’s bring the problem to the surface and raise awareness about ghost farms and put an end to them! ➡️ shorturl.at/jswVX

healthyseas ghostdivingorg odysseyactivities kefalonia_fisheries vibrant_kefalonia #enaleia #togetherwiththefishers #journeytoithaca #returntoithaca #plasticfreeoceans #ghostnets #ghostfarm
...

18 4
This year gonna be 20 years!

#symphonyx #theodyssey #symphonyxtheodyssey #russellallen #michaelromeo #michaelpinnella #michaellepond #jasonrullo #progmusic #prog #progressiverock #progmetal #metal2000s #ithaca #journeytoithaca

This year gonna be 20 years!

#symphonyx #theodyssey #symphonyxtheodyssey #russellallen #michaelromeo #michaelpinnella #michaellepond #jasonrullo #progmusic #prog #progressiverock #progmetal #metal2000s #ithaca #journeytoithaca
...

4 0
🎼Το καλοκαιράκι, στην ακρογιαλιά...
Ωραίο και το ❄️χιόνι αλλά εμείς ανυπομονούμε για καθαρές αμμουδιές και νέες πλεύσεις🚤
#ghostdiving #volunteer #marinepollution #seaprotection #ghostnets #healthyseas #journeytoithaca #cleanseas #ghostgear #greece

🎼Το καλοκαιράκι, στην ακρογιαλιά...
Ωραίο και το ❄️χιόνι αλλά εμείς ανυπομονούμε για καθαρές αμμουδιές και νέες πλεύσεις🚤
#ghostdiving #volunteer #marinepollution #seaprotection #ghostnets #healthyseas #journeytoithaca #cleanseas #ghostgear #greece
...

28 0
bbc StoryWorks has produced the short documentary "Turning Tides" about #JourneyToIthaca - our largest ocean clean-up yet at an abandoned fish farm in Ithaca, #Greece in collaboration with healthyseas, where we removed 76.000 kgs of debris from Ithaca’s sea and coastline.

The documentary tells the story of the clean-up, its impact on the #environment, and the #collaboration by the many partners. 

In case you missed it you can watch it here: http://www.bbc.com/storyworks/future/the-journey-to-ithaca/the-race-to-save-ithacas-seas-

bbc StoryWorks has produced the short documentary "Turning Tides" about #JourneyToIthaca - our largest ocean clean-up yet at an abandoned fish farm in Ithaca, #Greece in collaboration with healthyseas, where we removed 76.000 kgs of debris from Ithaca’s sea and coastline.

The documentary tells the story of the clean-up, its impact on the #environment, and the #collaboration by the many partners.

In case you missed it you can watch it here: http://www.bbc.com/storyworks/future/the-journey-to-ithaca/the-race-to-save-ithacas-seas-
...

95 1
Check out the new documentary "Turning Tides" produced by bbcstoryworks about #journeytoithaca - a huge cleanup we carried out in collaboration with healthyseas and ghostdivingorg at an abandoned fish farm in Ithaca, resulting in 76.000 kg of marine plastic and other material collected.

"Marine plastic pollution and the climate crisis is destroying earth, of course, but it's also affecting our societies" says Lefteris Arapakis, Co-founder and Director of Enaleia.

You can see the whole documentary here: https://youtu.be/CqYXaBGLeXY 👈

* A huge "THANK YOU" to hyundai.europe, odysseyactivities, kefalonia_fisheries, ionian_env_foundation, scubalifegreece, kosamarengo, decentralized administration of Peloponnese Western Greece & Ionian, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy and every individual person contributing!

Check out the new documentary "Turning Tides" produced by bbcstoryworks about #journeytoithaca - a huge cleanup we carried out in collaboration with healthyseas and ghostdivingorg at an abandoned fish farm in Ithaca, resulting in 76.000 kg of marine plastic and other material collected.

"Marine plastic pollution and the climate crisis is destroying earth, of course, but it`s also affecting our societies" says Lefteris Arapakis, Co-founder and Director of Enaleia.

You can see the whole documentary here: https://youtu.be/CqYXaBGLeXY 👈

* A huge "THANK YOU" to hyundai.europe, odysseyactivities, kefalonia_fisheries, ionian_env_foundation, scubalifegreece, kosamarengo, decentralized administration of Peloponnese Western Greece & Ionian, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy and every individual person contributing!
...

68 1

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2021-08-27T12:49:40+02:00June 2nd, 2021|