Have You Seen an Abandoned Fish Farm at Sea? Let Us Know.

At Healthy Seas, we’ve been working to uncover and clean up one of the ocean’s lesser-known threats: ghost farms.

What Is a Ghost Farm?

These are abandoned fish farms—structures built for aquaculture at sea that have been left to deteriorate, sometimes for years. You might spot them at sea or along the coastline: floating cages, broken buoys, torn nets, plastic pipes, and sometimes even buildings on land that once served as support stations. In the worst cases, fish are left behind. These sites are no longer maintained, yet they continue to cause serious environmental and social harm.

Why Ghost Farms Are a Problem

Ghost farms pollute the sea with microplastics, polystyrene, and various plastic debris. They threaten marine life, creating dangerous entanglement zones for animals and leaching harmful materials into fragile ecosystems. They also pose a risk to navigation and fisheries, while occupying coastal areas that could otherwise be used for tourism, recreation, or sustainable local businesses. Simply put, these forgotten farms do not belong in the water anymore.

Our Work So Far

Over the last three years, we’ve been working in Greece to locate and clean up these sites through hands-on missions, research, and local collaborations. But this might not be just a Greek problem. We believe ghost farms exist in many countries, and as part of our commitment to expanding our efforts, we’re now calling on you for help.

Have You Seen One?

Have you seen an abandoned fish farm—or parts of it—in your country, while sailing, diving, or walking by the coast?
Do you have information about a site that has been left behind and could pose a risk to the environment or local communities?

What Happens Next

If you share a tip with us, we’ll take it seriously. We’ll investigate from both the legal and environmental standpoints:
– What is the legal status of the structure?
– What are the potential ecological impacts?
– Can we obtain the necessary authorizations for a cleanup?

If all conditions are met, we’ll activate our amazing network of partners—divers, recyclers, NGOs, and researchers—to make the operation possible and ensure that as much of the material as possible is recovered and recycled.

Learn More About Our Work

If you don’t know what we’ve done so far, take a look at our dedicated ghost farms page to see the missions we’ve carried out, the partners involved, and the impact we’ve made over the past four years:
🔗 healthyseas.org/knowledge/ghost-farms-problem

We’d love to hear from you.
Your tip could shape our next mission.

Together, we can reclaim these forgotten waters and give nature and local communities a chance to thrive again.