Healthy Seas at Our Ocean Conference 2025

Let’s Talk About Who Owns Marine Litter

Healthy Seas at Our Ocean Conference 2025

Let’s Talk About Who Owns Marine Litter

We are proud to share that Healthy Seas has been selected once again to host an official side event at the upcoming Our Ocean Conference 2025, which will take place in Busan, Republic of Korea, from 28 to 30 April.

Following last year’s participation at the OOC in Greece, we’re returning with a new panel—one that reflects the real-world challenges we face during our fieldwork and dives straight into a key issue that often gets overlooked:

“Who Owns Marine Litter? Legal, Policy, and Field-Based Perspectives on Ownership and Accountability.”
🗓 April 28, 16:20–17:50
📍 Room 203+204, Convention Hall, BEXCO, Busan

Why This Matters

Marine litter isn’t just an environmental crisis—it’s a governance one. Every time Healthy Seas embarks on a cleanup mission, we run into the same question:
Who is responsible for the waste once it’s in the sea? And can we remove it?

Whether it’s abandoned fishing gear, derelict aquaculture infrastructure, or ghost nets entangled around shipwrecks, the problem is clear. But too often, legal ownership is not.

This side event aims to bring together experts from around the world to explore how unclear liability, weak enforcement, and bureaucratic gaps are delaying cleanups and preventing scalable action to protect our ocean.

Special Opening by US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse

We are honored that Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of the United States will deliver the opening remarks at our panel.

Representing Rhode Island—America’s Ocean State—Senator Whitehouse is a leading advocate for climate action and ocean protection in the U.S. Senate. As a co-founder of the Senate Oceans Caucus, he played a key role in crafting bipartisan legislation to address ocean plastic pollution, including the Save Our Seas Acts and the creation of the National Coastal Resilience Fund. His leadership continues to shape the global policy dialogue on marine sustainability and accountability.

Meet the Panelists

The session will feature a powerful lineup of voices:

Veronika Mikos, Director of Healthy Seas
Sharing the experience of cleaning up abandoned fish farms in Greece, where unclear legal ownership made intervention slow and complex.
Mr. Alex Shyy, Deputy Secretary General, TaiwanICDF
Presenting lessons from waste management projects in Small Island Developing States like Saint Kitts and Nevis, the Marshall Islands, and Palau—where missing regulations and limited capacity make cleanups difficult.
Chris Dorsett, Vice President for Conservation, Ocean Conservancy
Offering a global perspective on how international frameworks (FAO, IMO, ILBI) and emerging efforts like the Global Plastics Treaty can help—or hinder—the response to ghost gear and marine litter.

Stay tuned—we’ll be sharing highlights from the event, key takeaways from our panelists, and behind-the-scenes updates from Busan!

More from Healthy Seas at OOC

In addition to moderating our own panel, Veronika Mikos will also be a speaker in Ocean Conservancy’s official side event, titled:

“Marine Plastic Pollution: Addressing Ghost Gear through Innovative Action and Global Solutions”
🗓 April 30, 12:40–14:10
📍 Room 215, BEXCO, Busan

This session will focus on tackling ghost fishing gear, the deadliest form of plastic pollution. Panelists will highlight efforts from across sectors to prevent, mitigate, and remove ghost gear—and discuss how to ensure this issue remains firmly on the agenda of the Global Plastics Treaty.

What Is the Our Ocean Conference?

The Our Ocean Conference (OOC) is one of the world’s most important gatherings for ocean protection. It brings together governments, scientists, NGOs, and international institutions to drive commitments for a healthy ocean.

Over the years, the conference has helped launch hundreds of pledges, policies, and partnerships, focusing on marine protected areas, sustainable fisheries, pollution, climate resilience, and more.

Field to Forum: A Cleanup Mission in Korea

While we’re in Korea for the OOC, Healthy Seas will also lead a marine cleanup mission on 26–27 April in the coastal area of Pohang, in collaboration with our local Ghost Diving Korea team.

These twin efforts—hands-on action and global advocacy—reflect our mission to not only clean the seas, but also challenge the systemic barriers that allow marine pollution to persist.

Powered by Partnership

Our participation at the Our Ocean Conference and our cleanup in Korea are made possible thanks to our long-standing partnership with Hyundai, who have also been the main supporter of our ghost farm cleanups over the past four years.

Together, we’re proving that environmental stewardship can go hand-in-hand with innovation and corporate responsibility.