Record number of nets fished out in the open ocean! - video

On June 23, Ocean Voyages Institute’s plastic recovery vessel S/V Kwai docked in Honolulu harbour, completing a 48-day voyage. During the expedition, the crew managed to remove 103 tonnes of fishing nets and plastic waste, a new record.

The remarkable catch took place in an area described as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – a huge drifting cluster of waste formed by ocean currents in the North Pacific Ocean, between California and Hawaii. The amount of rubbish was also almost double the previous result achieved last year. The Ocean Voyages Institute has thus established itself as a leader in the clean-up of open ocean waters.

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“I am very proud of our hard working crew,” – said Mary Crowley, founder and executive director of Ocean Voyages Institute. “We exceeded our goal of capturing 100 tons of toxic plastics and abandoned ghost nets. In these challenging times, we continue to help restore the health of our oceans, which improves the health of all of us and our planet.”

Crowley, who is known as the ‘Ghost Net Conqueror’, is renowned for developing effective methods to remove significant amounts of plastic from the oceans. In 2019, expeditions organised by her resulted in the removal of 48 tonnes of toxic plastic, among other things.

“There is no single solution to the problem of cleaning up the oceans. Every expedition is long days at sea, with a dedicated team scanning the horizon, grabbing nets and collecting massive amounts of trash, making sure we slowly move towards our goal,” said Locky MacLean, a former Sea Shepherd director and ocean advocate who has been working to protect the marine environment for two decades

GPS satellite locators used by the Ocean Voyages Institute since 2018 confirm Crowley’s theory that one tracking module can lead to multiple nets. The ocean often sorts trash, so that a tagged fishing net can lead to more within a 15-mile radius.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, located halfway between Hawaii and California, is the largest such area with the most plastic of the five major plastic accumulation regions in the open ocean.

“We use proven equipment to effectively clean the oceans while innovating new technologies,” – Crowley recounts. “Ocean Voyages Institute has been a leader in ocean research and cleanup for more than a decade. Admittedly, we focus less

attention and we are not as media-savvy as some organisations, but we act with passion and commitment to make a significant impact”.

During the expedition, the multinational KWAI crew collected plastic debris using GPS satellite trackers developed by the Ocean Voyages Institute, with assistance from engineer Andy Sybranda of Pacific Gyre, Inc. The transmitters are placed in nets by volunteers, yachts and ships.

^{Source: Ocean Voyages Institute}