Topics include: Alien or Invasive Species; Marine Pollution (inc plastics, litter); Seagrass
Country/Region: Mediterranean
Project Manaia was founded by Manuel Marinelli in 2014. We are a small but growing Ocean Conservation NGO (Nonprofit Organization) based in Austria that works at Sea. We are crossing the Mediterranean on a mission to preserve Seagrass, investigate invasive species, and clear out marine debris.
After a couple of successful years in the Mergui Archipelago, Myanmar we shifted our focus back to the Mediterranean Sea. We sourced a 43-foot sailboat in 2018 for research in the Mediterranean Sea and in 2023 we upgraded to a 21m sailboat. Lots of marine biologists have great ideas and simply lack the chance to turn in into reality.
The idea is that people with a project on hand, but no funding or not enough funding can join us onboard SY Waya Waya to run their projects from there. We supply the home, equipment and resources and they can do what they trained to do: Science. Right now, we are still working hard to provide an affordable research platform for researchers but we need more supporters to fund our current projects plus independent researchers.