Through the Amorgorama initiative, based on the Greek island of Amorgos, the Blue Media unit produced a compelling film to support local fishermen campaigning for no-take zones. The film was showcased at the inaugural Our Oceans Film Festival in Athens in April 2024, where it set the stage for the Greek Prime Minister’s announcement of the country’s commitment to protect 32 per cent of its waters and ban bottom-trawling in its marine protected areas (MPAs).  

A Cycladic Island in the heart of the Aegean, Amorgos was the location for French director Luc Besson’s 1989 free-diving drama ‘The Big Blue’. It is this beautiful blue, and the life within it, that the small-scale fishers of the island have been trying to protect through Amorgorama, an initiative they set up in 2015. With the support of the local community, they have sought to adopt a sustainable way of dealing with overfishing in the Aegean and the pollution of its coasts, while envisioning the creation of a protected fishing area on their island.  

Ten years ago the fishers saw that their nets were coming back empty and their daily income was decreasing so they decided to act. They submitted a management plan with the following pillars:   

  • Abstain from their fishing activities in April and May. 
  • In those months, use their boats to collect plastic and other waste from the island’s most remote areas. 
  • Adopt additional fishing measures, such as changing the mesh size of their nets, to increase the selectivity of their gear. 
  • Create three total no-take zones. 

To put these measures into action, the fishers partnered with Blue Marine and Cyclades Preservation Fund, and secured the support of the state by signing a memorandum of cooperation. Amorgos now has a fisheries research laboratory where the Agricultural University of Athens is conducting a fisheries study, supported by Blue Marine.   

Amorgorama is a unique example of cooperation between fishers, scientists, institutions, civil society, local and national authorities with the common goal of protecting the sea and the people that depend on it. Its success will play a catalytic role in ocean protection in Greece, and it can be a beacon of inspiration and optimism for other fishing communities in the Aegean. Blue Marine is proud to support the fishermen in their fight to protect the marine environment and their livelihoods through sacrifice and compromise.