The third 'Sailing for the Planet' promoted by Ambiente Mare Italia starts from Porto Riva Traiano

Twenty-five boats and around 200 yachtsmen, passing through Capo Linaro and the Naval League, "competed for this symbol of solidarity and love for the sea", said the president of Ami

CIVITAVECCHIA – A 'Sail for the Planet' to raise environmental awareness.For the third consecutive year the initiative, promoted by Italian Sea Environment in collaboration with the 'Riva di Traiano' sailing club and the Port Authority of Civitavecchia, it took place off the coast of Civitavecchia.Twenty-five boats and around 200 pleasure boaters, passing through Capo Linaro and the Naval League, "contended for this symbol of solidarity and love for the sea – the president of Ami explained to the Dire agency, Alessandro Botti - Was an opportunity for great fun but also for attachment to a fragile ecosystem that is too important for our lives and the diffusion of a new ecological culture among all those who experience the sea in the summer and have a responsibility in safeguarding and protecting the environment".

In 2023 Ambiente Mare Italia, thanks also to the collaboration with boaters, collected 53 tons of waste from our seas, along the coasts of our country and in city parks. "We also remember - added Botti - how in the AMI Green Week 2024 alone the Association, thanks to the work of its territorial delegations, 58 throughout Italy, carried out 140 initiatives to raise awareness and environmental intervention in 15 Italian regions".The initiatives involved over 65 thousand citizens including divers, yachtsmen and sea and environmental operators in action in the field.Of these, over 20 thousand students actively participated in waste collection days on the beaches and in city parks.

AMI's monitoring and waste collection campaigns as part of Green Week 2024 made it possible to monitor 1,000 km of coasts, verifying the presence of pollutants washed up on a surface of 240,000 m2;monitor the seabed, specifically a surface area of ​​120,000 m2 equal to 18 football fields;remove approximately 250 quintals of waste from the environment.“Together with the University and the Coast Guard we want to increase the ecological culture among those who enjoy the sea to live it with greater responsibility - concluded Botti - because the real ecological transition is made by us who love the sea, it does not come to us from Europe nor by the Government".

For Michele Castaldo, commander of the Civitavecchia Port Authority and maritime director of Lazio, this initiative represents a “important message that we want to support, because through a sailing regatta you develop sensitivity towards the marine environment. We are waging a battle against plastic and carrying out various initiatives to protect biodiversity and combat illegal fishing.Then, there are many initiatives that we develop with sea users, so that they inform us of all those particularly delicate situations that need to be verified.After six years we once again found a nest of Caretta Caretta turtles on the beach of Sant'Agostino, we made it safe and we saved a specimen that had been injured".

Speaking of reports, this year too AMI will make the #SOSami telephone number available to navigators, sailors, surfers, divers, fishermen, travellers, tourists and sea-loving citizens, +393510338623, thanks to whom it will be possible to directly report to operators the presence of waste in the sea, hydrocarbon stains and the sighting of marine species.

“We sailors are 'green' by definition, because sailing does not consume any energy but only uses the force of the wind – concluded Giuseppe Borrelli, technical director of the Circolo Riva di Traiano – Our commitment to keeping the sea clean is dailyor, we contribute to maintaining a sustainable environment by collecting plastics and other objects that unfortunately we often find at sea during navigation. This is why the collaboration with Ambiente Mare Italia is strategic, it allows us to improve our knowledge in a complicated world like the one we live in, with the ecological impact that many activities have“.