Added: Over a year ago by Shearwater
As part of our contribution to the UN Global Compact and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's), Shearwater has an affinity with SDG 14 - Life Below Water. Our goal specifically is to continuously look for ways to improve the efficiency of our operations in terms of our impact on the environment and energy use.
With our vessels operating globally, we strive to find opportunities to contribute to the betterment of our oceans wherever possible.
Plastics are major components of marine litter, ranging from heavy fishing gear to minute plastic particles originating from both industrial and domestic sources.
It is assumed that hundreds of thousands of tonnes of non-degradable fishing nets are abandoned or lost in the world oceans every year.
Due to the resistance to degradation of synthetic materials (nylon, polyethylene and polypropylene) used in fishing gear, once discarded or lost these materials remain in the marine environment with negative economic and environmental impacts (London Convention/Protocol and Ocean Affairs 2016*).
Shearwater support the EnerGeo Alliance Ghost Net & Marine Debris Removal Initiative ( GNI ). We commit our fleet to remove any Marine Debris they come across during their time at sea and deliver it to the dock when they come alongside.
Any marine wildlife entangled in the debris are gently released and put back into their natural environment. Everything is recorded and sent to the EnerGeo Alliance for archiving and reporting.
Since the start of the campaign in 2019, our offshore colleagues have picked up more than 84 tons of marine litter from the ocean and released the wildlife caught in the debris.
We are very grateful to our offshore colleagues for this important contribution to improve the ocean environment. You are welcome to keep yourself updated on how we progress with our Ghost Net support and other ESG initiatives here: Shearwater ESG.
