Text for Destructive fisheries 

The new main research base of Archipelagos Institute started operating in April 2023 and is located on the North coast of Samos, in the village of Agios Konstantinos. The base will be continually developed for the next year, with the aim that it becomes a green model facility.

The building, with a total of 1000 square meters, houses both the working and the living areas. There are indoor and outdoor office areas, a presentation room as well as the accommodation facility which comprises 18 rooms and an outdoor eating area.

With a clear strategy to gradually reduce efficiently the carbon and plastic footprint of the base, we have already achieved our first goal to be largely self-sufficient producing most of the vegetables and fruits the team consumes in the organic garden situated next to the base. All team members are encouraged to help in our organic garden.

Archipelagos’ base in Agios Konstantinos is within the small village, only a few hundreds of meters from the sea, while it is at a walking distance from cafes, restaurants, a small shop and a pharmacy and amazing hiking paths!

The new base is surrounded by a very rich terrestrial biodiversity that Archipelagos teams are surveying in order to better understand this understudied environment and its ecosystems that reach 1100m of altitude. This base offers direct access to the trench of Ikaria – Samos island that reaches 1400m depth, enabling research in these important marine habitats, cetacean populations and other important biodiversity of the deep waters.

Samos is a Greek island in the eastern part of the Aegean Sea. It is facing the Turkish coastline, and their closest point is only 1.6 km away. It is a historical island, with ancient heritage and important archeological sites. In antiquity, it was home to prominent figures such as the mathematician Pythagoras, the storyteller Aesop, the philosopher Epicurus and the astronomer Aristarchus. Today Samos is characterized by its rare natural wealth, both at land and sea. It is the only island of the Mediterranean that supports populations of golden jackals and the only place in Greece where Mediterranean chameleons still survive. The marine ecosystems around Samos are equally important, as they contain Posidonia seagrass meadows, coralligenous reefs and considerable populations of rare, endangered marine mammals and turtles.

Risk of Devastating Shipping Accidents 

The increasing risk of maritime accidents is one of the greatest threats facing not only the Greek seas, but the entire Mediterranean. In Greece, in the absence of any effective preventative or response schemes, a major maritime accident can happen at any time, imposing devastating and long-term effects on biodiversity, economy (fisheries, aquaculture, tourism), but also public health.

For thousands of years, the Mediterranean has been an important area for shipping. Today approximately 20% of the world’s commercial shipping is handled in the region. Since the beginning, maritime transport of oil via Central Eurasia, has passed through the Aegean, of which continues to face increasing volumes of traffic. In addition, this sector of the Greek sea has also faced an increasing number of large commercial ships transiting.Nearly half of these vessels are registered to the so-called “flags of convenience” (e.g. countries such as Panama and Liberia), operating without mandates aligning with the primary international regulations for safe navigation. These vessels hence pose an increased risk of causing maritime accidents. In the Aegean Sea alone, more than 3 million tons of oil as well as many thousand tons of other dangerous cargoes (toxic chemicals, explosives, etc.) cross in transport every day. This places the risk of irreversible environmental and economic destruction at a daily occurrence. In the event of a large-scale marine pollution accident, the impacts tend to be catastrophic and irreversible. Consequences may include but are not limited to:

• Economic costs for decontamination.
• Removal of long-term damage to local unique biodiversity.
• Direct and indirect economic impacts on business activities such as tourism, fishing and fish farming.

Despite the obvious increase in the risk of maritime accidents in the Greek seas, the state mechanism and the relevant “Action Plans” for their management have been largely unchanged and left to become insufficient over time. This has been proven by shipwrecks such as “Agia Zoni” in Saronikos in 2017, “Little Syma” in Mykonos in 2017, “Sea Diamond” in Santorini in 2007 and numerous others that did not receive corresponding publicity.

The Archipelagos Institute, through targeted research, works to quantify the risk of accidents and communicate with national and international authorities the immediate need to develop effective and functional mechanisms to prevent and manage shipping risks in Greece.

Text for explosions

The new main research base of Archipelagos Institute started operating in April 2023 and is located on the North coast of Samos, in the village of Agios Konstantinos. The base will be continually developed for the next year, with the aim that it becomes a green model facility.

The building, with a total of 1000 square meters, houses both the working and the living areas. There are indoor and outdoor office areas, a presentation room as well as the accommodation facility which comprises 18 rooms and an outdoor eating area.

With a clear strategy to gradually reduce efficiently the carbon and plastic footprint of the base, we have already achieved our first goal to be largely self-sufficient producing most of the vegetables and fruits the team consumes in the organic garden situated next to the base. All team members are encouraged to help in our organic garden.

Archipelagos’ base in Agios Konstantinos is within the small village, only a few hundreds of meters from the sea, while it is at a walking distance from cafes, restaurants, a small shop and a pharmacy and amazing hiking paths!

The new base is surrounded by a very rich terrestrial biodiversity that Archipelagos teams are surveying in order to better understand this understudied environment and its ecosystems that reach 1100m of altitude. This base offers direct access to the trench of Ikaria – Samos island that reaches 1400m depth, enabling research in these important marine habitats, cetacean populations and other important biodiversity of the deep waters.

Samos is a Greek island in the eastern part of the Aegean Sea. It is facing the Turkish coastline, and their closest point is only 1.6 km away. It is a historical island, with ancient heritage and important archeological sites. In antiquity, it was home to prominent figures such as the mathematician Pythagoras, the storyteller Aesop, the philosopher Epicurus and the astronomer Aristarchus. Today Samos is characterized by its rare natural wealth, both at land and sea. It is the only island of the Mediterranean that supports populations of golden jackals and the only place in Greece where Mediterranean chameleons still survive. The marine ecosystems around Samos are equally important, as they contain Posidonia seagrass meadows, coralligenous reefs and considerable populations of rare, endangered marine mammals and turtles.

Text for Intensive aquaculture

The new main research base of Archipelagos Institute started operating in April 2023 and is located on the North coast of Samos, in the village of Agios Konstantinos. The base will be continually developed for the next year, with the aim that it becomes a green model facility.

The building, with a total of 1000 square meters, houses both the working and the living areas. There are indoor and outdoor office areas, a presentation room as well as the accommodation facility which comprises 18 rooms and an outdoor eating area.

With a clear strategy to gradually reduce efficiently the carbon and plastic footprint of the base, we have already achieved our first goal to be largely self-sufficient producing most of the vegetables and fruits the team consumes in the organic garden situated next to the base. All team members are encouraged to help in our organic garden.

Archipelagos’ base in Agios Konstantinos is within the small village, only a few hundreds of meters from the sea, while it is at a walking distance from cafes, restaurants, a small shop and a pharmacy and amazing hiking paths!

The new base is surrounded by a very rich terrestrial biodiversity that Archipelagos teams are surveying in order to better understand this understudied environment and its ecosystems that reach 1100m of altitude. This base offers direct access to the trench of Ikaria – Samos island that reaches 1400m depth, enabling research in these important marine habitats, cetacean populations and other important biodiversity of the deep waters.

Samos is a Greek island in the eastern part of the Aegean Sea. It is facing the Turkish coastline, and their closest point is only 1.6 km away. It is a historical island, with ancient heritage and important archeological sites. In antiquity, it was home to prominent figures such as the mathematician Pythagoras, the storyteller Aesop, the philosopher Epicurus and the astronomer Aristarchus. Today Samos is characterized by its rare natural wealth, both at land and sea. It is the only island of the Mediterranean that supports populations of golden jackals and the only place in Greece where Mediterranean chameleons still survive. The marine ecosystems around Samos are equally important, as they contain Posidonia seagrass meadows, coralligenous reefs and considerable populations of rare, endangered marine mammals and turtles.

Text for Environmental crimes

The new main research base of Archipelagos Institute started operating in April 2023 and is located on the North coast of Samos, in the village of Agios Konstantinos. The base will be continually developed for the next year, with the aim that it becomes a green model facility.

The building, with a total of 1000 square meters, houses both the working and the living areas. There are indoor and outdoor office areas, a presentation room as well as the accommodation facility which comprises 18 rooms and an outdoor eating area.

With a clear strategy to gradually reduce efficiently the carbon and plastic footprint of the base, we have already achieved our first goal to be largely self-sufficient producing most of the vegetables and fruits the team consumes in the organic garden situated next to the base. All team members are encouraged to help in our organic garden.

Archipelagos’ base in Agios Konstantinos is within the small village, only a few hundreds of meters from the sea, while it is at a walking distance from cafes, restaurants, a small shop and a pharmacy and amazing hiking paths!

The new base is surrounded by a very rich terrestrial biodiversity that Archipelagos teams are surveying in order to better understand this understudied environment and its ecosystems that reach 1100m of altitude. This base offers direct access to the trench of Ikaria – Samos island that reaches 1400m depth, enabling research in these important marine habitats, cetacean populations and other important biodiversity of the deep waters.

Samos is a Greek island in the eastern part of the Aegean Sea. It is facing the Turkish coastline, and their closest point is only 1.6 km away. It is a historical island, with ancient heritage and important archeological sites. In antiquity, it was home to prominent figures such as the mathematician Pythagoras, the storyteller Aesop, the philosopher Epicurus and the astronomer Aristarchus. Today Samos is characterized by its rare natural wealth, both at land and sea. It is the only island of the Mediterranean that supports populations of golden jackals and the only place in Greece where Mediterranean chameleons still survive. The marine ecosystems around Samos are equally important, as they contain Posidonia seagrass meadows, coralligenous reefs and considerable populations of rare, endangered marine mammals and turtles.