Founder of “Enaleia”, Lefteris Arapakis, together with the long-time supporter of this initiative and president of the Nea Makri Fishermen’s Association, Giannis Athinaios, are guests on this episode of “Fair Winds and Following Seas – Saturday Shift”.
Both rooted in the fishing world, they discovered through research that fishermen often pulled plastics and waste from the sea only to throw them back. This realization led Enaleia to create Mediterranean CleanUp, one of the largest marine-cleaning initiatives in the Mediterranean.
Lefteris Arapakis, coming from a fifth-generation fishing family, was named UN Young Champion of the Earth in 2020. Through Enaleia, he has mobilized more than 6,000 fishermen across five countries to collect and reuse marine plastic—already surpassing 2,000,000 kilograms of plastic.
Giannis Athinaios, a steadfast supporter of this effort, discusses the challenges of his sector as well as the new fish species now appearing in Greek waters. Every Christmas, he also creates an alternative Christmas tree from materials he “fishes up” from the seabed, displaying it proudly beside his boat in Nea Makri.
Enaleia has received international recognition from organizations including the United Nations, UNEP-MAP, Ashoka, and Forbes.
Produced & presented by Antonis Karagiannakis