Ocean Debris - Global problem, local solutions

by Sam Handy on 23 May 2015 The Ocean Summit on Marine Debris held at the Volvo Ocean Race Newport stopover sounded the alarm on oceans of plastic and other marine debris. The summit pulled together a rare combination of individuals from government, academia, business, foundations, nonprofits and offshore sailing.

Sailors as witnesses

Because the Volvo Ocean Race visits 11 countries on five continents and traverses four of the world’s oceans, sailors are in a unique position to witness what is happening in the ocean—and they say that in this edition of the race, there is more ocean debris than ever before.

In a short film produced by the race, Team Brunel Skipper Bouwe Bekking looks out over an open expanse of ocean and reports what he sees: “Plastic, plastic, plastic, plastic, plastic. A piece of wood. Plastic, plastic, plastic, plastic...” In some stretches of the race, such as the Malacca Strait that separates the Malay Peninsula and Indonesia, the trash is so thick it wraps around keels and rudders and boats need to back down or send a crewmember overboard to clear it. Racers even reported seeing plastic in the Southern Ocean—a remote stretch of water that has historically been pristine.

“The sailors are our canaries in a coal mine,” said Professor Dennis Nixon, Director of Rhode Island Sea Grant and a professor of the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, who emceed the summit. “They spend nine months at sea racing around the world, seeing things that landlubbers don’t get to see. We need to work together internationally to figure out the mechanisms to reduce waste.”

A global problem

According to Dr. Sandra Whitehouse, senior policy advisor to the Ocean Conservancy who spoke at the summit, a groundbreaking study published earlier this year in the well-respected journal Science gives a more accurate picture of where the sources of the pollution are concentrated. Five rapidly developing counties in Southeast Asia, with China standing as number one, account for the bulk of the debris.

“This is an unintended consequence of these countries’ rapid development,” says Dr. Whitehouse. “Their waste-management infrastructure has not kept pace with the growth of purchasing and disposing of consumer goods—especially plastic ones.”

But if solutions are not found, the problem will keep escalating. In 2013, there were 130 million tons of plastics in the ocean. Based on current projections, in 2025 that total is forecast to increase to 250 million tons, or one ton of plastic for every three tons of finfish. According to Dr. Whitehouse, the ecological impacts could be devastating to marine life and will reach all the way down to plankton, the base of the food chain.

Local solutions

There unfortunately is no one-size-fits-all answer. “We have to tailor solutions to individual countries,” says Dr. Whitehouse. The U.S. is ranked 20th out of the 192 nations in the study, so there are steps boaters and the Ocean State’s marine trades can take to help stem this tide.

First, get educated about the issue by learning more about the Ocean Conservancy’s Trash Free Seas campaign. The Conservancy also has a Good Mate Green Boating campaign; you will find guidelines for individual boaters and marinas, so pass this link along to your customers.

You can sign up for the Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, which is coordinated with local organizations and held each September (or even better, make this event a company outing). You can also donate to the important work the Ocean Conservancy is going.

There are local organizations working on the issue in our own backyard. We met Dave McLaughlin, executive director of Newport-based Clean Ocean Assess, at the Exploration Zone. The goal of his organization is to eliminate marine debris from the shoreline of Aquidneck Island and change human behavior to improve the long-term health of the ocean.

The organization has already removed 68,000 pounds of marine debris with the help of over 4,000 volunteers, but they are deepening their effort and need more boaters and members of the marine industry to become involved.

Starting this fall, Clean Ocean Access will expand its efforts to the west side of the island and is looking for dozens of organizations, businesses and community groups to join the effort, which has three phases.

Phase I begins later this year with an initial cleanup to remove all debris and inspire the community to take part in the project. Phase II includes additional cleanups to remove any debris not removed during the first phase and evaluate the re-accumulation of debris. In Phase III, committed individuals or organizations will become stewards and take on responsibility for cleaning one patch of coastline on a regular basis and documenting its health. This is a great project for companies and families. Contact Dave McLaughlin (401-465-0628 / dave.mclaughlin@cleanoceanaccess.org) to get involved.

Marine debris may be a global issue, but the Volvo Ocean Race sailors remind us that we are all stewards of our small planet.

“One thing that sailing around the world does is it makes you realize just how small our planet is,” says Ian Walker, skipper of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing. “If we can sail all the way across the widest ocean in two to three weeks in our small boats, that means the ocean isn’t that big and we need to protect our seas.” — Cynthia Goss