GLOBAL MARINE PLASTIC CLEAN-UP

Marine Plastic Clean-upin the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Mission Resolve and Ocean Voyages Institute are once again working together this Spring with the collective goal to remove 1 million pounds (500 tons) of ghost net,  plastics from the ocean. 

Mission Resolve seeks to provide Ocean Voyages with the 210' Offshore Tug Supply, the Resolve Pioneer and crew, dispatched from Resolve’s Dutch Harbor base to assist Ocean Voyages Institute in an efficient and large-scale ghost net marine plastics recovery from within the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the Pacific Gyre. 

To date, OSI has recovered 800,000 lbs (400 tons) - OSI proven track record.

Previous Marine Plastics Clean UpInitiatives with Ocean Voyages Institute

Mission Resolve Foundation supports crucial ocean plastic clean-up work of great organizations like Ocean Voyages Institute (OVI). Mission Resolve recently gifted OVI $25,000 as a challenge grant to other sponsors to join them in supporting this critically needed clean-up work.

The highly successful first leg of the OVI clean-up expedition included collaborating organizations such as NASA, Smithsonian, Scripps Oceanography, University of Hawaii, and University of Washington. The expedition returned to Hawaii from the North Pacific Sub-Tropical Convergence Zone on June 23rd, pulling 103 tons of fishing nets and consumer plastics and having set a record for the largest open ocean clean-up that has ever been done.

The missions are coordinated by Mary T. Crowley, Founder and Executive Director of OVI based in Sausalito, California. Crowley is also a founding member of the Mission Resolve Foundation, and, for over a decade has been internationally recognized as a pioneer of large-scale clean-up of toxic plastic in our oceans. “We know existing maritime equipment can be used successfully by re-purposing and innovating to accomplish extremely effective clean-up of the proliferating poisonous plastics in our global ocean,” says Crowley.

This $25,000 matching challenge grant donated by Mission Resolve Foundation provides necessary funding to help make additional voyages to the Gyre possible and enables OVI to increase the amount of plastic it is removing from the ocean this year. Plans are currently underway to deploy Mission Resolve Foundation’s 216-foot Humanitarian and Environmental Response Vessel, the Lana Rose, in OVI’s 2021 clean-up expedition. This will significantly scale these marine plastic clean-up operations and make an even greater impact. The Lana Rose will also provide extensive media and educational components including live virtual field trips for these ongoing expeditions through an onboard broadcast facility and live streaming capabilities.

Mission Resolve Foundation organized the first virtual marine field trip with the Ocean Voyages Institute team in Hawaii and New River Middle School students and teachers in Broward County. The need for virtual marine education programs like this is vital right now with the uncertainty of when schools will return to the classroom.

Ghost Nets Mission Resolve
Play Video
Video highlighting Ocean Voyages Institute’s record-breaking 103-ton marine plastic & ghost net removal in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Play Video

Video highlighting Ocean Voyages Institute’s record-breaking 103-ton marine plastic & ghost net removal in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Ocean Voyages Institute hauls in record 103 tons of trash from Pacific Ocean
Play Video

NBC6 coverage of the New River Middle School virtual marine field trip to Hawaii to interview Mary Crowley and learn about marine plastics.

Other GlobalMarine Plastic Clean-ups

Resolve Marine was contracted to clean-up over 2 billion nurdles that spilled from a cargo ship. These beads are the raw product for just about every plastic product we use. They are about 5mm in diameter and they partially float. Resolve Marine was contracted as advisors during the cleanup operations, providing guidance, technical support, and methodology, as well as liaising with the local coast-state maritime and environmental authorities and overseeing the HazMat beach cleaning teams.

This project started with bead pollution in the Durban Harbour and Durban beachfront areas but after Resolve implemented a beach inspection protocol which embraced the original storm drift analysis, ROV techniques, and aerial surveillance, it was soon realised that the project needed to be rapidly extended to the Northern coastline for many hundreds of kilometres Beaches were inspected from the border with Mozambique, and then all the way South to the Cape – well over 1,500 Km walked!

These Nurdles were removed from beaches, harbors, and lagoons using manual labour forces – using simple sieve technology in the environmentally sensitive beach and lagoon areas – as well as Resolve designed permitted mechanical techniques. The remote locations had some of the highest concentrations of beads. Small mobile teams worked on the lagoon shorelines with no road access, no shops and no support. Everything the team needs has to be brought on 4×4 vehicles.

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Past Initiatives:

Clean Drinking Water For Grand Bahama
Miami Dolphins Humanitarian Work
Grand Celebration Relief Cruise
Forklift Provision and Training For Grand Bahamas

We’re always working on new programs and initiatives to further our mission. Do you have a special cause you’d like us to help you accomplish? Contact us!

Join the Cause

At Mission Resolve Foundation, we’re committed to doing what's right and inspiring others to join us in our efforts to restore the ocean. We believe that small actions can have a big impact, and we invite you to be a part of our mission. Thank you for visiting our website, follow us on our social media channels to see what we're up to and help support our cause.  Don't hesitate to reach out via the contact section if you have any questions or would like to get involved.