Blog 21

The Whirlwind Charitable Trust is proud to sponsor the Secchi Disk Project

Phytoplankton, or microscopic marine algae, account for approximately 50% of all photosynthesis on planet Earth. Crucially, they underpin the whole marine food chain. The Secchi Disk Project is a long-term research initiative to record the distribution and abundance of phytoplankton across the world’s oceans, using easily made ‘Secchi disks’ to measure the clarity of the water. This is something anyone can do, so the project offers young people a highly accessible introduction to the importance of the marine ecosystem.

An interactive project

Participants not only contribute worthwhile data to the project but, in the process, become better acquainted with both the hidden wonders, and the fragility, of the oceans. We see these as important steps towards a more enlightened and sustainable relationship with the marine environment for the coming generation.

Secchi Disk is already the world’s largest marine ‘citizen science’ project.  It has benefitted from funding for marine environment research, with participation from numerous seafarers including global cruising sailors, commercial seafarers, fishermen and research organisations. A number of the Whirlwind Trust’s partner charities have already committed to supporting the project. They were quickly able to appreciate the potential participation in the programme offered to enriching the activities they provide to young people.

The greater the number of contributors to the project, the more reliable will be the data set used by researchers around the world to provide solid evidence on the state of the oceans. And the wider the participation, the greater will be the interest in and commitment to the marine environment among our future generation of leaders.

Please take part!

By taking part you will join a large community of motivated, environmentally aware, citizen scientists, recording phytoplankton levels in a simple, practical and enjoyable way from aboard a cruising yacht. Please visit secchidisk.org to see just how easy, interesting and inexpensive it is for a group of young people on a sailing experience to make their own Secchi disk, take measurements at sea and upload the data via the free Secchi phone app.

The Secchi Disk study’s first scientific output was published in December 2017 in the journal The Public Library of Science ONE also known as PLOS ONE. You can download the pdf directly here. The paper is Open Access, so it is free to read, download and distribute, and there has been broad coverage in the sailing press.

Further funding for marine environment research is available

Are you passionate about this?  Further funding is available for the right project.

Further reading

Click here for another article about our marine environment.

Turn the tide on plastic

The Whirlwind Charitable Trust is committed to marine conservation, which means we hate plastic pollution! Our trustees share a love of the seas and sailing, and many of the charities we support have a nautical focus, so we have seen first hand the deleterious effects of our society’s addiction to plastic. Far too much of it ends up in the sea, blighting its natural beauty. But in addition to the evidence of our own eyes, there is also hard, scientific evidence that plastic pollution is doing real damage to the marine ecosystem.  Grants for marine environment improvement are available.

Scientists forecast that the weight of plastics in the oceans will exceed that of all the fish by 2050. Plastic microfibres from clothing have been found at the bottom of the very deepest marine trenches and in the bodies of 90% of the creatures that live there. Microparticles of solid plastic are present throughout the marine food chain, slowly killing the fish that ingest them and rendering large percentages infertile. We humans are an integral part of that food chain so we, too, ingest plastic particles from the fish we consume. The wellbeing of our entire planetary eco-structure is dependent upon the health of the oceans. It is a matter of enlightened self-interest for each of us to turn the tide on plastic in any way we can.

So below, we set out seven practical things we can do when going to sea, and nine things we can all do every day that will help turn the tide on plastic.

Seven rules when at sea

1. Ban plastic drinks bottles! Take your own steel or aluminium bottle and fill it up from the tap. If you are the yacht owner or skipper, supply the yacht with enough non-plastic bottles for all crew members and install filters for tank water.
2. Re-use plastic bottles. If you have to buy a plastic water bottle, make sure it is solid enough to keep re-using. Put a stop to buying and throwing away plastic.
3. Smart Provisioning – don’t buy provisions in plastic packaging if you can avoid it. If it can’t be avoided, strip off all the plastic when storing the provisions and dispose of it considerately ashore before sailing.
4. Keep a dredge net aboard – we all see floating plastic debris at sea and we can all make a contribution by fishing it out and storing it for proper disposal ashore.
5. Deal with discarded fishing gear – no, it’s not your fault it’s there, but it’s in all our interests to deal with it. Use the boat hook to remove plastic fishing nets, buoys and other gear for disposal ashore.
6. Separate waste aboard – space is always limited but that doesn’t make it OK to put plastics in with food and other ‘gash’. That way the plastic will end up in landfill and a surprising amount of that enters watercourses and then the sea. Your ship’s plastic waste should always be separated and disposed of in dedicated recycling bins.
7. Spread the message – explain to friends and fellow crew why this matters. Encourage them to follow your example. And share your own ideas – we’d be happy to add any good suggestions to this website.

Nine rules for every day

1. Say no to ‘disposable’ plastic products. Razors, ball pens, plastic flower pots, drinking straws, beakers and cups, knives and forks – he list is endless. Stop using them. Give them back to the retailer where possible and protest. Airlines are particular culprits.
2. Food shopping: as for at sea – your fruit and veg do not need to be encased in plastic. Shop for loose goods or hand back the plastic at the checkout.
3. Does it need to be plastic? Before making a purchase, check for alternative materials. If plastic is difficult to avoid, check it’s fully recyclable.
4. Say no to six-pack rings – these plastic rings trap, harm and ultimately kill marine creatures. Take them off the cans and give them back at the checkout. This also sends a powerful message to the retailer.
5. Avoid clothing with acrylic fibres – this may not be easy, but one of the biggest contributors to microfibres in the marine environment is discarded water from washing machines. Choose clothing made from wool or other natural fibres.
6. Toothpaste and cosmetics – many brands still contain thousands of tiny plastic balls. Reject these brands and never use them.
7. Don’t be fooled – lots of plastic packaging claims to be made from individually recyclable materials. Yet combined together, they cannot be separated for recycling – plastic bands wrapping plastic drinks bottles are a good example.
8. Lobby your MP and your local Council. Governments – local and national – are better at talking the talk than walking the walk on dealing with plastic pollution. Demand action. Make it an election issue locally.
9. Take recycling seriously – it’s not just something imposed on us by a tyrannical local authority. We need to achieve the highest, most efficient rates of recycling we can – and that means lots of personal co-operation.

Grants for marine environment improvement

We are happy to consider applications for grants for marine environment improvement.  Please contact us for further information.

Links

www.plasticoceans.org

www.greenpeace.org.uk/what-we-do/oceans/plastics/

www.volvooceanrace.com/en/teams/Turn-The-Tide-On-Plastic.html

www.mirpurifoundation.org
Principal sustainability partner to Volvo Ocean Race entry ‘TURN THE TIDE ON PLASTIC’

www.oceanfamilyfoundation.org
Partnering Dee Caffari’s Volvo efforts with support from North Sails

www.skyoceanrescue.com
The third key partner for the Volvo initiative

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42703561
Plastic recycling: Your questions answered