Protect the Ocean – our Baltic Sea project.

Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been left behind or have been torn loose in bad weather. Every year, thousands of fishing nets, traps and lines are lost in this way in the seas. In the Baltic Sea alone, it is estimated that 10,000 fishing nets are lost annually.

Fishermen and anglers are often near wrecks because of the large number of fish that gather there. Wrecks offer sea creatures particularly good hiding places. When a net in the Baltic Sea breaks loose during a storm, it often gets stuck on a wreck. Ghost nets can become a death trap for crabs, sea scorpions, cods and also for birds and the already endangered porpoises.

Another problem: fishing nets are made of plastic. If they land in the sea, the nets decompose in the long term to form microplastics which enter the food chain. The consequences of this process for humans and the environment are still little researched today.

Oceanwell supports the environmental association One Earth - One Ocean (OEOO) in the recovery of ghost nets in the Baltic Sea. The idea is to remove plastic waste from the sea - a drop in the ocean? No, because it is also about bringing the issue of marine protection to the public; about making people aware of the treasures the sea holds for us. For our Oceanwell products, life in the sea is both source and inspiration at the same time ...

The OEOO association uses its garbage collection ship, the SeeKuh, to salvage ghost nets. It serves as a base for the dives. The ghost nets are screened and recovered by members of the Scientific Diving Association (SDA) from Kiel. The trips take place at different places - where nets accumulate and get caught in wrecks, shoals or currents. In the Baltic Sea, such places can be found in the Bay of Kiel, off Fehmarn or in Danish waters.