The Professional Fishing Association of Amorgos started sending proposals to the authorities since 2015 with a plan for the fishing stocks and marine pollution around Amorgos. As there was never any positive feedback, in 2019 the fishermen decided to take the matter in their own hands. The idea of Amorgorama was conceived during an exhibition on marine plastic by the artist Florian Reiche in the port of Katapola.
In spring 2021 Amorgorama was implemented for the first time mainly with the support of people through crowdfunding and the environmental organisations Cyclades Preservation Fund (CPF) and Enaleia. More than 50% of our fishermen took part during 2021 and due to Amorgorama we welcomed three new young members to the organisation. With every activity our program got more and more publicity (newspapers, radio stations, national television etc.) as people realised that we were making a difference!
During 2021 and 2022, all together we managed to:
- Realise 38 missions for garbage collection – that means 38 fewer days of fishing during the fish reproduction period!
- Collect more than 1200 large bags of litter, plus many very big items.
- Send more than 15 tons of plastic for recycling, where 60-65% will eventually be recycled.
- Recycle more than 3 tons of fishing nets and ropes!
On the 5th of June 2021, World Environment Day, the Greek Minister of Environment and Energy joined our fishermen in a cleaning action and committed to helping Amorgorama financially for 2022. Due to bureaucratic difficulties, the Minister’s financial support is expected to be received in 2023.
Amorgorama is completed for 2022! We thank all our supporters for making this project possible: the people who contributed through our crowdfunding campaign, the Municipality of Amorgos, the environmental organisations Enaleia, Cyclades Preservation Fund, the Hellenic Ministry of Environment and Energy, Blue Marine Foundation and Prasino Tameio. See you all in April 2023!
Watch what we achieved in spring 2021 through Amorgorama in the video below.
Below you can see pictures from our missions.
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Our crowdfunding campaign is still on!
