ETNZ CLAIMS TOP AWARD

I t was a victory that captivated a nation, so it was little surprise when Emirates Team New Zealand was named Executive Travel Sailor of the Year at the recent Volvo Yachting Excellence Awards. ETNZ beat Oracle 7-1 in Bermuda in June to win the Auld Mug,

Millions of tiny particles of plastic have been detected in European waters in ground-breaking scientific research conducted as part of the Volvo Ocean Race.

The research, using data collected by team ‘Turn the Tide on Plastic’, identified over three million micro-plastic particles per square kilometre of ocean. The samples were collected using a state-of-the-art instrument on board the yacht.

The initial results, gathered during the Prologue stage and Leg 1 of the Race, between Lisbon and Alicante, were presented by Dr Toste Tanhua during the first morning of the two-day Volvo Ocean Race Ocean Summit, held at the event’s Cape Town stopover. The samples collected during Leg 2 are currently being analysed and results will be revealed in due course.

“Our initial findings suggest that the levels of micro-plastic in the ocean are significantly higher than we first expected,” says Tanhua, who works at GEOMAR, an ocean research institute in Kiel, Germany.

“This is alarming as the micro-plastic not only harms a wide range of marine life, but, through entering the food chain in species such as tuna and mackerel, can cause harm to humans, too.”

Micro-plastic is often invisible to the naked eye – and can take thousands of years to degrade.

“Existing scientific data,” Tanhua says, “only accounts for around one percent of all plastic in the ocean – but thanks to the support of Volvo Ocean Race and Volvo Cars, and the efforts of the Turn the Tide on Plastic team in conducting this research, we’re building a knowledge base which is essential to ocean science around the globe.”

The research comprises three key pillars: meteorological data collection; scientific drifter buoy deployment; and on-board analysis of key metrics for ocean health including salinity, partial pressure of CO2, dissolved CO2 and Chlorophyll-a.

The Science Programme aims to create a snapshot of the health of the oceans to help scientists worldwide.

“This is a ground-breaking project, bringing sport and science together,” says Dee Caffari, Turn the Tide on Plastic skipper. “As round-the-world sailors, we have seen first-hand the growing problem of marine debris and plastic pollution – and now we are collecting reference data for scientists around the globe.”