On the 23rd of June last month, the Ocean Voyages Institute made history after they successfully cleaned 103 tons or 206,000 pounds of plastic garbage and fishing nets from the GYRE or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The cleaning expedition lasted for 48 days and they set a new record as the largest sea cleanup in the GYRE to date. They also doubled their results from the cleanup voyage last year that lasted for 25 days.
The founder of the Institute, Mary Crowley, stated that she’s more than proud of her hardworking team. They exceeded their set goal of removing more than 100 tons of consumer plastics and nets.
In these challenging times, said Crowley, their Institute keeps on restoring the ocean’s health that is directly influencing our health and that of our Mother Earth.
Largest Ocean Cleanup in History Has Been Accomplished
Crowley is well-known for the development of successful methods that help remove major amounts of plastic waste from oceans.
Last year, they took out 48 tons of plastics in 2 ocean cleanup voyages.
On their S/V KWAI ship, the team installed GPS satellite trackers designed by Andy Sybrandy, an engineer from Pacific Gyre, to locate the trash piles.
It tags the fishing nets and then goes off to other places with debris within a 15-mile radius to find garbage clusters.
According to Crowley, they use proven nautical equipment that helps them clean the oceans, as well as innovative new tech. Their institute has been a leader in research and ocean cleanups for more than a decade.
They’re passionate and committed to making positive and meaningful changes.
Who Helped Them in Achieving this Important Goal?
Matson, based in Honolulu, helped the Institute in prepping the upcycling and the disposal of the trash they collected. They don’t want any of this debris to end up in our landfills and are making sure it’s properly sorted and recycled.
From there, it will be turned into insulation, energy or some other renewable source. The CEO and chairman of Matson, Matt Cox, said that Matson has long been searching for a way to become a part of the Pacific Ocean Cleanup.
They’ve long been amazed by the work of the Institute and the immense progress they achieved despite being a small organization. He sincerely hopes that their collaboration will continue.
The Cleanup Journeys Continue, Here’s How to Support the Institute
On the 28th of June, the Institute launched their second 25-30 day journey to collect garbage from the area. The length of their stay may be prolonged, depending on their fundraising or donations.
They can be done through PayPal or through their website.
Crowley believes that they’re making our oceans healthier and helping marine wildlife. In this way, the risk of getting entangled and dying in fishing net or from choking on plastic will significantly drop.
Their plan for the future is to expand their cleanups to other parts of the world that need it.