Monday May 15, 2017, we set sail for Scotland, on the second By the Ocean we Unite sailing expedition for cleaner oceans. Together with filmmakers, scientists and impactmakers from around the globe we conduct scientific research, increase global awareness and activate people, organizations and governments to work on solutions for our global plastic problem.

Checkout this page for details on our scientific research, pictures, videos, collaborations, visits and all you need to know about the expedition.

Did you know that The United Nations has designated 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development?

”My invitation to you: join these guys on one of their expeditions, it’s an awesome experience!” – Anoûl Hendriks, former DJ @ Radio 3FM

Read the article Scotland’s national newspaper published about the expedition!

During the expedition, we will assist research projects from a range of institutes and universities. We will use a manta trawl to sample free floating sea surface plastics to determine their abundance per sea surface area, we will collect jellyfish as an abundant type of marine plankton to investigate their plastic ingestion, and we will collect sediment samples from a range of Scottish beaches for measurements of plastics along the high tide line.

We are in touch with and will visit several Scottish people and organizations working to reduce plastic pollution. Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) is an environmental charity protecting the UK’s oceans, waves and beaches via community action, campaigning, volunteering, conservation, education and scientific research. The RSPB works on the protection of birds, in which plastic is an ever increasing problem. Scotland: The Big Picture is a media collective working on the ‘rewilding’ of Scotland. Nurdles, plastic pellets spilled with the production of plastics, are researched by The Great Nurdle Hunt, whom we will share our findings at sea with.

Plastic pollution is a global problem which we believe we can only solve by working together and helping where possible. Therefore we created the PIFF: Pay-It-Forward-Fund. It works as following: startups working on reducing plastic pollution can get in touch with us to explain their concept – sometimes we pick organizations we come across. During the expedition we’ll discuss three or four concepts with the expedition members. All ideas, network and suggestions are forwarded to the organization after the expedition. Also we take part of the participation fee and put it in a fund, of which the expedition members themselves eventually decide which organization(s) they will support financially.