The Kwai, a vessel belonging to Ocean Voyages Institute, used drones and satellite equipment installed on other ships to collect 40 tonnes of waste — primarily plastics and nylon fishing nets — from the Pacific Ocean in 25 days. With the experiment a success, the aim for 2020 is a mission lasting 3 months.
More than 40 tonnes of plastic and fishing nets have been removed from the stretch of sea known as the Pacific gyre, a section of the Pacific Ocean lying between California and the Hawaiian Islands where four powerful ocean currents converge to form a circular vortex capable of drawing in waste from both the American continent and the Hawaiian archipelago. The feat was accomplished by Ocean Voyages Institute, a US environmental organisation whose sail-powered cargo vessel Kwai docked in Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii, on 25 June last, having completed a 25-day clean-up mission.
Halfway between California and Hawaii there exists one of the increasingly common garbage patches, made up mostly of detergent, beer and soft-drink crates, bleach and cleaning bottles, plastic furniture, packing straps, buckets, children's toys and a myriad of types of floating plastic. But one of the main objectives of the voyage organised by Ocean Voyages Institute was the recovery of so-called ghost nets: nylon or polypropylene-derivative fishing nets, each weighing several tonnes, that settle on the seabed trapping plastic debris along with fish and even pieces of ships. According to Ocean Voyages Institute, an estimated 600,000 tonnes of abandoned nets end up in the oceans every year, and according to the United Nations, around 380,000 marine animals are killed every year as a result of them, or through the ingestion of plastics.
"Nets and plastic debris are the sign of a pollution that is posing serious threats to marine life, coastal environments, navigation, fishing, wildlife and, not least, our health," explained Mary Crowley, founder and executive director of Ocean Voyages Institute. "But progress also gives us innovative solutions for finding the areas with the highest density of plastic pollution more quickly."
Part of the mission's great success was indeed due to the satellite technology used: the Kwai also made use of other vessels (private yachts, fishing boats, smaller craft) which, equipped with GPS, helped with reporting. In addition, drone-piloting experts boarded the Kwai, using the aircraft to locate concentrations of waste. Following this experiment, in 2020 Ocean Voyages Institute aims to expand its mission, planning a three-month voyage at sea.
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Plastic pollution in the ocean was unknown just forty years ago. "It is very disturbing to sail through what only a few decades ago was unspoilt nature and find it today full of our rubbish," is Mary Crowley's bitter final reflection. "Urgent action is needed at every level, starting with limiting the production of single-use plastics." In the Mediterranean, too, plastic pollution constitutes an emergency: according to WWF, 570,000 tonnes of plastic end up in its waters every year, the equivalent of 33,800 plastic bottles thrown into the sea every minute — without concrete and effective solutions, it is estimated that by 2050 the world's seas will contain more tonnes of plastic than fish.
