EU Moves to Curb Ocean Plastic
The European Parliament on Wednesday agreed on new measures to tackle marine litter coming from single-use plastic products most often found on European beaches, as well as abandoned fishing gear and oxo-degradable plastics.The Single-Use Plastics Directive, proposed by the European Commission and adopted by the European Parliament this week, places a ban on selected single-use products made of plastic for which alternatives exist on the market, such as cotton bud sticks, cutlery, plates, straws, stirrers, sticks for balloons, as well as cups, food and beverage containers made of expanded polystyrene
Oi: Tracking 50 Years of Ocean Innovation
to be used and new platforms developed, such as towed or autonomous vehicles.Vintage Valeport – an example of the early Braystoke Impeller brochure. Valeport is also celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2019.New materials have also made their impact. “Engineering materials, especially plastics, have made wonderful advances,” says Hardy. “PEEK, fiberglass, delrin, and a host of others became as common in the Scripps machine shop as the marine-grade aluminums. Synthetic ropes, from nylon and polypro, to Kevlar and Spectra, have made working at sea a bit kinder.”In
Subsea: The Future of Unmanned Vehicles
limiting its range and maneuverability.Since its founding in 1986 Saab Seaeye has pioneered innovations that have helped to transform the underwater robotics industry, including brushless DC thrusters, efficient high-frequency power distribution, intelligent distributed control systems and the use of plastics and composites in vehicle construction, said Matt Bates, Director, Saab Seaeye Ltd.Saab Seaeye Sabertooth. A hybrid resource that offers autonomous and seabed resident capabilities. Image: Saab SeaeyeBates’ career has been involved with underwater systems. “After graduating with an Honors
Boat Made of Flip-flops Sails for Cleaner Seas
made of recycled plastic waste and discarded flip-flops gathered from beaches and roadsides, dropped anchor off the beach at Mtwapa, near Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa.The 9-meter-long dhow, "The Flipflopi", was sailing south along East Africa's coast to raise awareness of the threat plastics pose to the oceans, said chief boat-builder and captain Ali Skanda.Beaches and marine ecosystems have been badly affected by plastics, Skanda said, adding it was time to change local people's mindset on how they handle and dispose of waste."That's why we started this voyage - to reach
OSIL Unveils Microplastics Sampler
Oceanic microplastic pollution is a growing concern across the globe as new and existing marine litter continues to degrade and fragment through physical and chemical processes.Global environmental monitoring experts Ocean Scientific International Ltd (OSIL) has developed a new Microplastics Sampler for the collection of water samples for the analysis of plastic particles smaller than 5 mm including fragments, films, pellets/nurdles, granules/beads, filaments and foams.The unique device is a large volume water sampler that allows researchers to collect and characterize suspended and sinking particles
ROVs to Investigate Lost Shipping Containers
by Yang Ming and the ship’s insurers, Aus Ship, located approximately 37 containers, but further search operations have been delayed by weather and sea conditions.There are as many as 42 containers still missing, AMSA’s analysis indicates.The lost containers contain a large amount of plastics that, if not recovered, will break down over time and spread as microplastics, affecting habitats and species over a wide area, AMSA said. A large amount of debris has already been recovered from New South Wales Central Coast beaches since the containers were lost.In addition, AMSA said it has received
Interview: TMA's Michael Jones on BlueTech Week
in-formation clusters – probably the largest BlueTech cluster gathering in the world – to discuss Best Practices and collaboration. The Marine Debris Solutions day co-hosted with Scripps Institution of Oceanography on November 6 will focus on innovative industry solutions to four big issues: Plastics in the Ocean; Sunken Vessels and Unexploded Ordinance; Oil Detection and Cleanup; and Fishing & Netting Gear Alternative Solutions. The BlueTech Summit & Tech Expo on November 7-8 will feature four Plenary Sessions with an amazing array of speakers, four tracks with six panels each, and
Castrol Unveils New Control Fluid for Subsea Systems
best-in-class solution that can work across all components in a system. This means that operators can be confident of the integrity and performance of their systems, and enjoy enhanced system protection as a result.”Castrol Transaqua SP is designed to be compatible with a wide range of elastomers, plastics, metals and completion fluids. This compatibility with completion fluids is especially important during well installation activities, when fluid mixing may occur potentially leading to line blockages.Furthermore, another key challenge faced by operators is the potential for seawater to become trapped
Maersk Signs on to Help Clean up Ocean Plastic
of the ocean environment through enhancing the sustainability of all our activities both at sea and on land. In addition to always taking great care that our operations do not pollute the oceans with plastic, we are also very pleased to take part in the world’s first major collection of plastics from the ocean. As a responsible maritime operator, we are committed to ensuring that the oceans can remain a healthy environment for generations to come,” said Claus V. Hemmingsen, Vice CEO of A.P. Moller – Maersk and CEO of the Energy division.The Ocean Cleanup’s long-term ambition
Nippon Foundation Addresses Global Ocean Threats
that endanger the life under the sea. I have visited 125 countries around the world in my life, and when it comes to the problems in the sea, it is not only the problems that come from the developed countries, but there are a lot of developing countries that contribute to that threat, as well.The plastics that you have mentioned, as well as the PVCs – the vinyls – those are flowing into the sea and being eaten by many of the lives that’s living in the seas. Recently there was news talking about shrimp that live 4,000 meters below the sea eating some plastics, with tiny little particles
Video: Prince Charles Addresses Ocean Summit
they were actually closer to the astronauts on the International Space Station than to any human on our planet.“This information collected from the seas is critically important for the scientific community.“Looking at the data collected it is deeply troubling to see how highly pervasive microplastics have become. Samples have even been discovered in what we once would’ve considered to be the pristine environment of Antarctica.”In Partnership with the UN Environment Clean Seas campaign, the Ocean Summits offer business, government, organizations and ocean advocates a platform to showcase
