On Saturday, 18th of May 2019 the Blue World Institute has organized clean up of the sea-floor and the coast at three bays at the island of Lošinj. This local event was organized as a part of the activities of the „marGnet“ project co-financed by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and Croatian Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund in cooperation with local diving centre Sub Season and Mali Lošinj Tourist Board. Despite rainy weather, 18 divers participated with the support from 30 volunteers on the boats and on the coast plus additional 12 volunteers cleaning the adjacent beaches. In total, during the 3 hours of the action, 2t or 10 m3 of garbage was collected – car tires, glass bottles, fiber-glass pieces from the sinking boats, fenders, abandoned fishing pots and ropes, parts of the sunken pontoon. For all the participants we organized lunch and the presentations of the related topics – „Ecology of marine turtles and the threat of marine litter“ and „Underwater archeological sites at the Lošinj Archipelago“ with the visit to the Museum of Apoxyomenos.

The aims of this action were to increase public awareness on the problem of marine litter on the sea-floor and to promote healthy and sustainable living practices for protection of  the marine environment by promoting the „marGnet“ initatives. Due to impressive results, good cooperation between our partners and great feedback from the participants, we are planning to continue with the organization of similar actions in the near future.