Algalita Marine Research And Education

Started in 1994 by Captain Charles Moore the organization’s initial mission was to restore the disappearing kelp forests and improve water quality along the California coast.  In 1997 all that changed. Captain Moore made a startling discovery at sea. Taking a shortcut from Hawaii to California aboard his 50-foot catamaran he veered away from his usual course and went through the rarely traveled North Pacific Gyre.

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He recalls that “As I gazed from the deck at the surface of what ought to have been a pristine ocean, I was confronted, as far as the eye could see, with the sight of plastic,” the captain wrote in an essay for Natural History. “It seemed unbelievable, but I never found a clear spot. In the week it took to cross the subtropical high, no matter what time of day I looked, plastic debris was floating everywhere: bottles, bottle caps, wrappers, fragments.”

From that point Algalita has pioneered the scientific study of plastic pollution in the marine environment. The organization has literally made it its mission to understand the enormity of the problem and share our findings with the public and other organizations.

The organization has taken the lead in integrating global research on marine plastic pollution. The organization participates in a number of collaborative projects such as reducing plastic debris in the Los Angeles and San Gabriel watersheds, studying microplastics in inshore Hawaiian waters and Japanese Tsunami Debris Field Investigation.

Algalita has a number of youth and children educational initiatives. The organization hosts a Plastic Ocean Pollution Youth Summit for students and teachers. They provide an Algalita Debris Science Investigation Kit—a complete curriculum set on the impacts of plastic marine debris customized for one 50-minute period. They also provide STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) workshops either in classroom visits or at their Redondo Beach, CA labs. And harnessing remote technologies in their Ship 2 Shore program they have connected thousands of students from around the world with their team while they conduct research aboard the oceanographic research vessel Alguita.

For information on marine plastic pollution research collaborations, the Ship-2- Shore student program, POPS Youth Summit, volunteering, donating and getting involved visit http://www.algalita.org