Our association KEEP IT BLUE has worked for the past four years on the legal aspect of oil spills,
in cooperation with other European NGOs.

KEEP IT BLUE is directed by JO LE GUEN, who has twice rowed the Atlantic Ocean.

The first time from Cape Cod (U.S.A) to Brest (France) in 1995, 103 days,

The second time in 1997, from Tenerife (Canary Islands) to Barbados (West Indies), 49 days.

JO LE GUEN attempted to row across the South Pacific Ocean from New Zealand to Cape Horn in 2000
to draw public attention to the problem of ocean pollution.

He was forced to stop after 60 days due to gangrene. He lost all of his toes.

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JO LE GUEN plans to participate in the first rowing race across North Atlantic,
the Ocean Fours Rowing Race, organized by Woodvale in June 2006,

with 3 disabled, one American, Angela Madsen, one English, Richard Whitehead, and one French, Franck Festor.

His goal is to increase public awareness of disabilities
and to send a message of hope to those who have suffered serious traumas in their lives.

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KEEP IT BLUE has undertaken an awareness campaign regarding port reception facilities for ship-generated waste.

Our purpose is to share information with the public.

We are currently creating a database containing information about the ship waste reception facilities of 252 leading European ports, and their compliance with Marpol annexes I-II-III-IV-V, implemented in the European Union by the Directive 2000/59/CE on the Port Reception Facilities for ship-generated Waste and Cargo Residues.

If we wish to avoid unlawful discharges, it is essential that we try to contribute to the organization of waste reception in EU ports.
This database will provide a global vision of the current waste management facilities in Europe, and as a result, we will identify where improvements must be made.

This work is a first step in our project.

Database

We plan to go further in creating another database tracing the waste-discharge history for each ship calling in European ports.

This will allow us to know what they do with their wastes during their European port calls.

We hope that our work will help to keep the sea free from pollution.