Enaleia - protection of the marine environment through the education of fishing communities

Enaleia provides local fishing communities with an education in order to make them able to participate in the global climate action, joining its main actions. Firstly, we train fishers to participate in the “Mediterranean CleanUp” project, making them to collect plastic from the bottom of the sea and to bring it to us to integrate it into the circular economy, but also to prevent their used plastic equipment to end up in the sea promoting it as well to the circular economy. Also, we provide training to fishermen to join our “Fish Smarter” project, teaching them how they can avoid overfishing, increasing their income, utilizing modern models like sustainable fishing tourism. What we do is to conduct tailor-made workshops accustomed to the particular needs of these communities, the majority of which are people with low educational level, making them understand and realize the socio-environmental benefits from their participation in our actions. Until today we have collaborated with more than 1.000 fishers in Greece and Italy with success. Through its actions, Enaleia has developed a strong network throughout Greece, consisting of professional fishermen, NGOs, research centers, charitable institutions as well as local authorities, recycling companies and ordinary citizens who assist as volunteers.