Right now, in the Mediterranean our crew is once again aboard the MY Sea Eagle hauling illegal octopus traps off the seafloor by hand – one buoy, one line, one trap at a time. 

Last year alone, our volunteers pulled: 

- 34,546 illegal traps from the ocean 

- 288,294 metres of deadly line from the seafloor

- released 1,584 octopuses back to freedom 

But for every trap removed, many more remain. We estimate as many as  500,000 illegal traps may still be sitting on the Mediterranean seafloor, slowly and silently killing octopus, day after day, season after season. 

Octopus trapping is banned in Greek waters during breeding season, from July to September. That means every trap our crew finds right now is illegal and every day we're not out there, more octopuses die, many of them females carrying thousands of unborn eggs. 

Your regular gift – even $20 every four weeks – helps the M/Y Sea Eagle stay on the water and keeps our volunteer crew pulling traps by hand - giving octopuses a real chance to survive. 

This year, our crew led by Captain Sebastien Fau has settled into an exhausting rhythm: six days of trap patrols, one day of rest, then back out on the water again to repeat the process. Every trap is hauled up, dismantled, and checked for trapped wildlife before the crew moves to the next buoy. Some days it's ten straight hours of backbreaking work under the Greek sun. 

It's slow, physical, unglamorous work. But it's vital for octopus populations in the Mediterranean, and it’s working. Scattered buoys stretching to the horizon get pulled from the water one by one, and where there were once death traps, octopuses now have a clear seafloor to hide, hunt, and breed. 

The scale of the crisis is still staggering, but with your support, we're confident we can keep pace with it, trap after trap, year after year. 

We will not stop until every illegal trap is removed and octopus populations are safe throughout the Mediterranean. 

Will you join Sea Shepherd's Direct Action Crew today and help fight to save the Mediterranean's octopuses?

These are extraordinarily intelligent, complex, sentient animals. They do not belong in a cruel, suffocating trap. Protecting them isn't just about one species – octopuses are a keystone part of the Mediterranean ecosystem and losing them would throw the health of the whole food web off balance. 

When M/Y Sea Eagle comes into port at night, the deck is stacked with sacks of illegal fishing gear, the crew is exhausted but satisfied, and – because of that day's work – hundreds more octopuses get to keep living free. 

But we can only keep doing this with your ongoing support. We're committed to being on the water every single breeding season, for as long as it takes to end illegal trapping for good. 

Yes, I want to defend marine life today!

If we don't act now, thousands more octopuses will die needlessly. Your support today keeps our crew pulling every last trap from the sea and ensuring that the mediterranean octopuses have the chance to recover and thrive!