Plastic research on board
For the past three years, and others before me, we have been collecting plastic samples for the Ocean Cleanup. This means we have something on board, called a “Manta Trawl”. It catches microplastics floating on the water surface, which we then send to a laboratory in Rotterdam for further analysis. Questions we like to find answers to are for example, what type of plastic do we find? Fishing gear? Single use packaging? Mermaid tears? And, how long has it been floating around? Where did it come from? Since we go where the wind brings us, we tend to travel to places where motorised vessels do not – they often just pick the shortest route. So, by contributing as a sailing vessel, we can help gather a better understanding of the plastic out there, and not only at the coast or on the major routes.
As the manta trawl is hard to use when we go fast, I always try to deploy it when the wind has calmed down. Of course, frequently when it is all ready and has just entered the water, wind picks up or even storms appear out of nowhere behind us. And so, when there is no wind, we sometimes use it to, just to taunt the gods – see if they want to bully me enough to make us in the process have good sailing weather again.
On the last leg the weather was friendly and there were no difficulties. On this trip however, an endless row of squalls was stowed upon us. Already 10 minutes after we had put it in the water, we had to abandon the mission. Luckily, I could try again the day after. On a sunny day we gathered around the samples to see how much plastic is floating around us, and learn about the plankton that lives amongst it.
When you look at the surface one would never guess there is so much life swimming around us. Two weeks ago, we mostly found Portuguese man o’ war (Physalia), sea skaters (Halobates) and small violet snails (Janthina). This has now shifted to copepods, blue buttons (Porpita) and loads of tiny fish. We are passing the equator and will soon sail in different currents, bringing different species. Whenever we bring up our first sample of the day, we all hurdle around the net to find out what there is this time!
The last few days we had little to now wind. This morning the conditions seemed perfect again. And while I was planning to get the trawl ready, of course, the wind picked up again. I want to be optimistic and not assume I personally am being prevented to do some science. I like to believe Neptune is maybe giving us his blessing. Maybe rewarding us with wind for doing research and contributing to efforts to keep his ocean clean?
We are curious to see what is floating around us, so we will just give it a go anyway.