Together for the Baltic Sea: Sea Shepherd x BRACENET

The oceans are in danger: marine pollution, underwater noise, illegal fishing and the consequences of the climate crisis are threatening ecosystems - and thus our livelihoods. We must do something! We believe that we can make a big difference, especially in cooperation with other organizations. With this in mind, we are proud to fight for the future of our oceans with the Sea Shepherd team.

Life comes from the sea – and the oceans are still vital to life today. But they are in danger: marine pollution , underwater noise , illegal fishing and the consequences of the climate crisis threaten ecosystems and thus our livelihoods. There is only one solution: we have to do something! We believe that we can make a big difference, especially in cooperation with other organizations and companies that share our mission. The impact of Bracenet together with our partner organizations Healthy Seas , Ghost Diving and Nofir is proof of this. With this in mind, we are proud to fight side by side with the Sea Shepherd team for the future of our oceans.

Who is Sea Shepherd?

Sea Shepherd is an international, non-profit organization. Its teams are mostly out on the water to protect biodiversity and marine ecosystems. But why do the crew of the self-proclaimed “Neptune's Navy” spend long months on stormy seas? In their words: Protecting the oceans means protecting our own lives. And that is exactly what Sea Shepherd does, with strong actions instead of empty words.

While international protection laws often only exist on paper, Sea Shepherd enforces them. The organization investigates illegal activities on land and at sea, documents them and, if possible, stops them immediately. Sea Shepherd was founded in 1977 and now fights for justice at sea with more than 11 ships worldwide.

Sea Shepherd patrols the Baltic Sea with the Emmanuel Bronner

Since when has Bracenet been allied with Sea Shepherd?

Our shared story begins in 2018. Bracenet had just been founded, but Sea Shepherd's mission has always fascinated us. And it's hard to believe: within 24 hours we raised 5,000 euros for Sea Shepherd! After this successful campaign, we made a firm resolution to repeat the collaboration as soon as we recovered a black ghost net. In 2021, the time finally came and we raised another 1,650 euros for Sea Shepherd. But it's not over yet, because we're currently working on the upcycling products of the BALTIC SEA CAMPAIGN series But first things first.

500 Bracenets for 500 porpoises

Have you ever seen porpoises? It's not that difficult, or at least it shouldn't be, since they are native to the North and Baltic Seas. But we can no longer see as many animals playing from the coast as we used to. The porpoise population in the western Baltic Sea, for example, has shrunk to 500 animals and is threatened with extinction. The greatest threats to them include: Gillnets . The huge nets stretch like invisible fences through the dark water, so that many porpoises get tangled up in them and die as bycatch. This even happens in marine protected areas that are actually supposed to protect ecosystems. But it is not too late, there is still a chance: If we stop gillnet fishing now, the porpoise population can still recover. We have to take action to make this happen!

Take action? That's the key word for Sea Shepherd. In 2017, the organization set sail from Germany for the first time to patrol the Baltic Sea for its PERKUNAS CAMPAIGN and protect its inhabitants. At the heart of the campaign: the porpoises. From July to September 2017 and from April to June 2018, the "Emanuel Bronner" and the speedboat "Sierra" explored various areas in the Baltic Sea. The teams documented illegal nets and reported them to the relevant authorities. They also used the trips to better assess the threat to porpoises and to recover deadly ghost nets.

Bracenet wanted to make a statement together with Sea Shepherd - for the oceans and for the porpoises. So we released a limited edition Bracenet with 500 bracelets, each of which symbolizes one of the remaining 500 porpoises. For each of these Bracenets and each of these porpoises we donated €10 to Sea Shepherd. After an incredible 24 hours, all Bracenets were sold out. And Sea Shepherd received €5,000 from us for their fight to protect the porpoises!

Finally: The Sea Shepherd Bracenet

In 2018, we promised Sea Shepherd that if we recover another black ghost net, we would make a Bracenet edition just for your community. Almost three years later, the time had finally come! To support the organization in its current BALTIC SEA CAMPAIGN To support the campaign, we decided to donate €2 for each of the Bracenets sold. This edition was also sold out in record time thanks to the incredible support of our two communities. With a new donation of €1,650, we then visited Sea Shepherd's BALTIC SEA campaign camp on Rügen in July 2021 to present them with this donation.

There it is: The long-awaited Sea Shepherd Bracenet!

But what is the BALTIC SEA CAMPAIGN all about? Sea Shepherd is back in the Baltic Sea and has made it its mission to recover as many ghost nets as possible from the Baltic Sea. Around 10,000 nets are lost here every year - so there is a lot to do. The ghost nets are tracked down and then recovered using new technology such as underwater robots and special sensors.

We are visiting Sea Shepherd on Rügen to transfer our donation of 1,650 euros and to pick up nets for upcycling

The BALTIC SEA CAMPAIGN Series

When we visited Sea Shepherd on Rügen, we took some of their recovered ghost nets back with us to Hamburg. To be precise, quite a lot: two tons! We want to give these nets a new life and are gradually preparing them for upcycling We sort them, clean them and finally handcraft them into new products. Since there are many small pieces of net, we can BALTIC SEA CAMPAIGN series We only produce small quantities at a time. Check out our online shop over to catch one!

From the nets recovered by Sea Shepherd we manufacture new products for the limited BALTIC SEA CAMPAIGN Series

And what happens next?

To date, Bracenet has donated a total of €6,650 to Sea Shepherd. But the thanks go not only to us, but also to you! Without our community, Bracenet would not be possible, without you we could not finance rescue trips or implement other donation projects. That is why we want to offer you more and more and are working hard on further upcycling ideas in our Hamburg factory. You can also find some other products from the BALTIC SEA CAMPAIGN series We'll be excited! And when we've processed the entire net? Well, then the next donation will go to Sea Shepherd. We're really looking forward to continuing to fight against ghost nets and for our oceans with Sea Shepherd in the future.