Plastic pollution is more much important that I could ever imagine in deep waters. The trawlings today happened without any problem. Everybody seems confident for the utility of the research, so am I. We already have 297 samples for TOC to study. We are at the beginning of something big!
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The Ocean Cleanup: Collecting plastic debris
In addition to our trawl sampling, we are accumulating quite the collection of larger plastic debris! So far on our journey we have retrieved crates, jugs, buoys, fenders, hausers, and floats.
Read MoreThe Ocean Cleanup: Halfway between Bermuda and the Azores
During the past 6 days, we have successfully deployed our Multi-level Trawl 18 times and are doing test-runs of our new Sighting Survey app, which will be officially launched during the upcoming Mega Expedition. We plan to arrive at the Azores on the 13th of July with 363 ocean plastic samples, 13 happy people, and a finalized version of The Ocean Cleanup Survey App for both Apple and Android smartphones.
Read MoreThe Ocean Cleanup: Plastic in the North Atlantic Gyre
On first impression, it seems possible to confirm the theory of a higher accumulation of plastic in the area called the center of the gyre. But only when all the samples have been processed in the Ocean Lab, and the results analyzed and discussed, will we be able to definitely confirm this theory. By the time this blog is posted, our team on the Sea Dragon will have already set sail in the direction of the Azores, where the boat and all the team will again reach safe land after having crossed the Atlantic Ocean collecting samples.
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The Ocean Cleanup: The illusion of emptiness in the ocean
Flying fish rush over the waves. First mate Shanley has spotted bioluminescence. We felt like we could almost touch the dolphins that briefly played around the boat. The emptiness is an illusion, that much is clear. There’s not just plastic in there, there’s life, there’s beauty. And this is what I think we came here for – life and beauty, to experience, and preserve.
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The Ocean Cleanup: Setting sail from Bermuda to Azores
We were soon back to routine sailing until about 1720 hours when Captain Eric spotted something large and white floating about 100M off the port bow. In addition to the trawl’s catch, we had been seeing mezzo-plastics (several cm-long), some larger, floating by all day but this object was big, coiled on itself like a great white serpent. Eric called out and immediately turned the boat toward the “thing” – we did not know what it was.
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Boyan Slat & Ocean Cleanup: Trawling in the North Atlantic Gyre
Today, with a now experienced crew and a comfortable 15 knot-wind, three back-to-back trawls were performed, each around an hour in length. Lots of millimetre to centimetre-sized particles were visible in the samples of the top few nets. Team member Francesco is currently working with some volunteers to clean the nets’ cod ends and prepare the samples for transportation.
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Boyan Slat & The Ocean Cleanup: Second day at sea
It’s our third day on board the Sea Dragon, our second day at sea. Most of us have never been on any type of sailboat, so the first and second day consisted of a lot of very basic training: how to pump the head, coil a rope, where all the supplies are kept. While still in the quiet harbor in Bermuda, we practiced putting the multi-level trawl in the water, each of us assigned a specific task, working as a team to ensure it was deployed safely.
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Writing at Sea – Impressions of Sailing and being on Sea
The proximity of close confines can bring with it bonding (as the days, move on) or it could work the other way. So far, it has been a good journey with each one displaying a keenness for peaceful co-existence in the time that Chance or Providence has brought us together. The shared laughter, the pulling together and the learning will stay with me for the rest of my years.
Read MoreWriting at Sea – Vacuum Cleaner
It’s a good end to a long day – we set sail from Great Inagua yesterday morning and have had a beautiful passage, champagne sailing in flat water with beautiful wind under the hot tropical skies, then worked our way in over some shallow sandbars to find anchorage here on the northern edge of the Georgetown harbor. Elizabeth and the crew headed straight to the windward beach on stocking island to do some cleaning and look for inspiration in the rack line, then we settled into a fantastic barbecue at “The Flip Flop Shop,” a collection of crude benches and palm frond canopies near a firepit on the beach – open to all, as long as you only “take what you brought with you.”
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‘Missing plastic’ in the oceans: data collected on board Sea Dragon
We’re excited to see this piece on the vertical distribution of buoyant ocean plastics in The Conversation – ‘Missing plastic’ in the oceans can be found below the surface – which contains data collected on board Pangaea’s S.V. Sea Dragon by our partners at The Ocean Cleanup.
Read MoreDr. Jenna Jambeck: Science waste inputs from land into the ocean
We’d like to congratulate S.V. Sea Dragon and eXXpedition crew member Jenna Jambeck on her superb paper, “Science waste inputs from land into the ocean,” published in Science in February 2015.
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