Amorgorama is officialy put into action for 2021!
Congratulations to the Professional Fishing Association of Amorgos which is the organization behind the project “Amorgorama—becoming part of the swarm“. The association consists of about 40 fishermen and has the goal to optimize the fishing practice in a sustainable way for the sake of both the marine life and the people working in the fishing industry.
A serious concern of the fishermen is the movement against the Greek fishing tradition and culture by paying coastal fishermen to destroy their Kaìki, their traditional Greek fishing boat, in the name of overfishing in the Mediterranean Sea.
It is important to point out that coastal fishing boats form the 96,5% of the Greek fishing fleet but bring only 40% of the total fish catch in Greece. On the contrary, big trawlers constitute 3,5% of the fishing industry but catch 60% of the total fish in the country (Hellenic Statistical Authority, 2019).
Therefore, one of the goals of the Professional Fishing Association of Amorgos is to protect the cultural heritage of coastal fishing while curbing the effects of overfishing and pollution of the sea in concise and powerful, “outside the box” way. They intend to use their knowledge of the sea and the topography, as well as their Kaìkia and other fishing vessels to handle the continuously changing environment that defines the life on the islands.
In addition, a discussion has started among the fishermen about the definition of a minimum size of nets so that smaller fish don’t get caught.
Amorgorama is now not only a vision (orama) but a reality thanks to the supporters of the initiative, including the people who contributed through the crowdfunding campaign, the Municipality of Amorgos, Enaleia and the Cyclades Preservation Fund!
So far, 5 daily clean up missions have taken place and with a total catch of around 350 bags full with garbage (!!!) and many big items like big ship ropes, petrol tanks, two fridges, palettes, cans etc.
Amorgorama visited and cleaned up the beaches:
Vlychada in Katapola, Perivola, Mavroudiatis, Megali Vlychada and Mikri Vlychada in Aigiali
with the active contribution of the vessels of the association (Kaikia):
‘Agios sozon’, ‘Timios Stavros II’, ‘Agios Nektarios’ , ‘Kimataki’, ‘Agioi Anargiroi’, ‘Thodoris’, ‘Antonios Vekris’ and ‘Kapetan Nikitas’.
We are grateful to all of them!
For more information about the missions so far, please follow www.amorgorama.com