Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association (HELMEPA)

HELMEPA, the Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association, is the Greek voluntary association founded in 1982 in which shipowners and seafarers jointly pledged to prevent ship-source marine pollution. It pioneered the voluntary owner-and-crew model later copied by the international HELMEPA network and INTERMEPA. HELMEPA runs seafarer training, awareness campaigns, and youth and coastal-cleanup programs from Athens. Its founding declaration, ‘To save the seas,’ established a self-regulatory complement to MARPOL rather than a regulator; it has no enforcement powers but works through member commitment and education.