Swan Hellenic participated in a high-level event during the Ocean Race Grand Final celebrations in Genoa, Italy, on Monday, June 26, 2023. Organized by the European Commission and the City of Genoa, the event launched the “Restore our oceans and waters by 2030” plan. Designed to raise awareness of the Mission, the program featured speeches from EU parliamentarians, Italian government ministers, and mayors from Italy and Spain.
In his speech at the round table, Andrea Zito, CEO of Swan Hellenic, described Swan Hellenic's concrete actions in favor of ocean health as an example of how the shipping sector can support the implementation of the Oceans and Waters Mission.
Mr. Zito explained that the company has always been passionately committed to the conservation of the rarely accessed seas explored by its guests. For this reason, it has dedicated significant investments to the latest technologies to ensure its fleet of three boutique expedition vessels has the lowest possible emissions and environmental footprint.
“But we’ve also gone further,” he added. “We’ve partnered with numerous initiatives that allow our onboard experts and guests to contribute valuable conservation data. This ranges from sharing cloud data with NASA and recording whale sightings with Happywhale, to monitoring phytoplankton with the Secchi Disk Study and counting Antarctic seabirds with Stony Brook University.”.
“We have now taken another important step that forms the core of our commitment to Mission Ocean and Waters, offering our vessels as data collection and research platforms in remote seas, initially through our partnership with the Philippe Cousteau Foundation and the Sustainable Development Goals for the Mediterranean. The first initiative will be the measurement and monitoring of the distribution of microplastics and heavy metals, and there will be more to come.”
The Ocean Summit will culminate in the draft principles of the Declaration of the Rights of the Oceans, which will be presented to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2023.
