The aim of the "Eco Ship" project was to increase the knowledge and skills in the field of maritime education, environmental protection and sustainable development of youth aged 15-29 in the Baltic Sea Region by creating "The Baltic Sailor catalog" containing elements of ecological and sailing education. The educational programme named “The Baltic Sailor Catalog”was disseminated to reach the widest group of stakeholders - schools, other educational organisations (including scouts) and institutions.
The main challenges of the modern world defined during activities carried out by the project partners were as follows, i.e .: 1. Progressive deterioration of the natural environment, including the marine environment. 2. Insufficient knowledge about the marine environment among school-age people. 3. Narrow ecological understanding of young people. 4. Lack of motivation to pro-ecological activities among young people. 5. Lack of effective tools for disseminating the principles of sustainable development. The ECO-SHIP project was aiming to tackle the challenges mentioned above by creation of the educational program addressed not only to young people aged 15-29, but also to teachers, educators and other people working for sustainable development, maritime and environmental education. By implementation of the project activities we wanted to contribute to reduction of negative human impact on the environment, including marine environment, increasing level of marine knowledge, pro-ecological awareness of young people, dissemination of Sustainable Development Goals. The sailing trips on yacht “General Zaruski” were proposed as a valuable example of non-formal education when you people became a crew and directly got in contact with nature