The Healthy Seas Podcast

Often mistaken for seaweed, Posidonia oceanica is a flowering marine plant and one of the Mediterranean’s most valuable ecosystems.
Its meadows can host up to 1,000 species, protect coastlines, support fisheries and store carbon accumulated over centuries. But Posidonia grows only a few centimetres each year, meaning damage can take centuries to recover.
In this episode, marine scientist Dr Dimitris Poursanidis takes us beneath the surface to explore the importance of Posidonia, the threats facing its meadows, and how scientists monitor them using satellites, sonar, drones, eDNA and underwater observations.
We also discuss ghost nets, abandoned aquaculture materials, microplastics and carbon storage — and why removing marine litter can help give these slow-growing ecosystems a chance to recover.
🎧 Listen now and discover the Queen of the Mediterranean.
#HealthySeas #PosidoniaOceanica #Mediterranean #MarineConservation #MarineScience #GhostGear
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Healthy Seas is a marine conservation organization whose mission is to tackle the ghost fishing phenomenon and turn this waste into an opportunity for a more circular economy. They do this through clean-ups, prevention, education, and working with partners who recycle and repurpose this material. The podcast is hosted by Crystal DiMiceli.

How employees become ambassadors for ocean conservation 
 
What happens when employees are given the knowledge, freedom and support to champion a cause they genuinely care about? 
In this episode of the Healthy Seas Podcast, DWS employees and Healthy Seas Ambassadors Luxshmy Harikantha and Leon Vosse share what employee volunteering looks like in practice. Through the longstanding collaboration between DWS and Healthy Seas, ambassadors receive training, educational resources and ongoing support to bring topics such as marine litter, ocean protection and individual action into schools, community activities and events within their company. 
Their experiences show that a meaningful employee engagement programme can extend far beyond a single volunteering day. Ambassadors can shape activities around their own interests and local opportunities, collaborate with colleagues and external organisations, and build relationships with students and communities over time. 
For Luxshmy and Leon, this work also provides something different from their everyday professional roles: a chance to act on their personal convictions, learn more deeply about ocean conservation and see the immediate response of the people they meet. They describe children leaving activities eager to share what they have learned and sometimes changing their behaviour, and the behavior of their families, almost immediately. 
The episode also explores what makes corporate volunteering feel genuine rather than symbolic. Time, flexibility and organisational support all matter, but so do trust and creative freedom. Employees need space to contribute their own ideas, take responsibility and adapt activities to the people and places around them. 
For companies considering an employee volunteering programme, the DWS Ambassador initiative offers a concrete example of what is possible when a business and a nonprofit organisation build something together over several years. Healthy Seas brings expertise from marine conservation, education and field projects, while employees become multipliers who carry that knowledge into new settings. 
The result can benefit everyone involved: communities gain access to engaging ocean education, employees find connection and purpose beyond their day-to-day work, and companies create opportunities for colleagues to come together around meaningful action. 
If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe, rate and review it! This helps to boost its visibility.
Healthy Seas is a marine conservation organization whose mission is to tackle the ghost fishing phenomenon and turn this waste into an opportunity for a more circular economy. They do this through clean-ups, prevention, education, and working with partners who recycle and repurpose this material. The podcast is hosted by Crystal DiMiceli.

🦪 Oysters, mussels, clams, scallops, and cockles do much more than you might think.
In the latest Healthy Seas Podcast episode, we explore the fascinating world of bivalves and their vital role in keeping our seas healthy.
Joining us is Dr. Katie Collins, molluscan palaeobiologist and curator at the Natural History Museum in London, who explains how these remarkable animals filter water, recycle nutrients, create habitats for marine life, and even help scientists understand ancient oceans through their fossil record.
Small animals, big impact.
🎧 Listen to the full episode and discover why protecting and restoring these living filters is essential for healthier seas.

If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe, rate and review it! This helps to boost its visibility.
Healthy Seas is a marine conservation organization whose mission is to tackle the ghost fishing phenomenon and turn this waste into an opportunity for a more circular economy. They do this through clean-ups, prevention, education, and working with partners who recycle and repurpose this material. The podcast is hosted by Crystal DiMiceli.

How Eco-Schools Slovenia, AquafilSLO, and Healthy Seas are helping students turn sustainability into action
Circular economy can seem like an abstract concept, but in the classroom it becomes tangible through creativity, problem-solving, and hands-on learning.
In the latest Healthy Seas Podcast episode, Lucija Marovt, Project Director of Eco-Schools Slovenia, discusses how students learn about circular economy by rethinking products, exploring sustainable design, and viewing waste as a valuable resource rather than a problem.
The episode also highlights the long-standing partnership between Eco-Schools Slovenia, AquafilSLO, and Healthy Seas, which has brought workshops, teacher training, and educational projects on circular economy, marine litter, and sustainable consumption to schools across Slovenia.
Through practical activities and real-world examples, students develop not only knowledge but also the confidence to take action. By connecting sustainability with design, innovation, and ocean protection, these programmes help young people understand how everyday choices affect the environment and how they can contribute to positive change.
Listen to the full episode to discover how Eco-Schools Slovenia, AquafilSLO, and Healthy Seas are inspiring the next generation to turn sustainability into action.
If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe, rate and review it! This helps to boost its visibility.
Healthy Seas is a marine conservation organization whose mission is to tackle the ghost fishing phenomenon and turn this waste into an opportunity for a more circular economy. They do this through clean-ups, prevention, education, and working with partners who recycle and repurpose this material. The podcast is hosted by Crystal DiMiceli.

Before forests, before animals, before humans there was plankton.
In this episode of the Healthy Seas Podcast, we speak with ocean advocate and author Vincent Doumeizel, whose upcoming book The Power of Plankton explores one of the most overlooked yet fundamental components of life on our planet.
Plankton is often described as the “invisible” part of the ocean. But as Vincent reminds us, it is not just part of the story of life, it is the story.
A planet shaped by the smallest forms of life

Plankton is not a single organism, but a vast and diverse community of life forms ranging from microscopic algae and bacteria to larvae and even some animals like jellyfish that drift with ocean currents.
For over 3.5 billion years, plankton dominated life on Earth. In that time, it fundamentally transformed the planet. It was plankton that first developed photosynthesis, releasing oxygen into the atmosphere. It was plankton that created the carbon cycle, the water cycle, and the conditions that made complex life possible. Quite simply, without plankton, there would be no breathable air, no stable climate, and no ecosystems as we know them.
The invisible engine of biodiversity

When we think about ocean conservation, we often focus on what we can see: coral reefs, marine animals, seagrass meadows. But all of these systems depend on plankton.
As Vincent explains, plankton sits at the base of the entire marine food web. It regulates nutrients, supports fish populations, and drives the biological processes that sustain biodiversity across the ocean and, by extension, across the planet.
This is where the connection to the Healthy Seas Foundation becomes clear. While our work focuses on removing marine litter, ghost nets, and other debris from the ocean, the ultimate goal is to protect the ecosystems that lie beneath. And those ecosystems depend on something far smaller and less visible: the balance of plankton communities. If we think of ocean conservation as restoring a house, plankton is the foundation. And without a stable foundation, nothing above it can stand.
A system under pressure

Plankton is resilient but it is not immune. Rising temperatures, ocean acidification, and pollution are already changing the composition of plankton communities. Species that help regulate climate, such as those that capture and store carbon, are being replaced in some areas by species that thrive in warmer, more polluted conditions.
This shift may seem invisible, but its consequences are not. Because plankton drives the carbon cycle, changes at this level can accelerate climate change. Because it supports marine food chains, disruptions can cascade through entire ecosystems. In other words, the smallest organisms can have the largest impact.
From understanding to solutions

Despite its importance, plankton remains one of the least understood parts of our planet. But this is beginning to change. Advances in DNA sequencing, satellite observation, and artificial intelligence are opening new windows into this microscopic world. In the past decade alone, scientists have discovered millions of new genes and vastly expanded our understanding of ocean life. And with this understanding comes potential.
Plankton could play a role in future solutions, from carbon capture to bioremediation, from new materials to new sources of food. But as Vincent emphasizes, the first step is not exploitation, it is understanding.
Starting from the foundation

At Healthy Seas, we often say that ocean conservation is about more than removing waste, it is about restoring balance. This episode reminds us that balance starts at the smallest scale. Protecting plankton does not mean “saving” it, it will continue to exist in one form or another. The real question is whether we can maintain the conditions that allow plankton to support life as we know it. Because in the end, as Vincent puts it, we may not need to save plankton. Plankton may be what saves us.

If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe, rate and review it! This helps to boost its visibility.
Healthy Seas is a marine conservation organization whose mission is to tackle the ghost fishing phenomenon and turn this waste into an opportunity for a more circular economy. They do this through clean-ups, prevention, education, and working with partners who recycle and repurpose this material. The podcast is hosted by Crystal DiMiceli.