Marine ​Conservation
How can you save our seas and waterways?

The Wave systems such as bilge filters and grey water systems presented on this website are designed to reduce the impact leisure and commercial boating have on the marine environment, the seas, oceans, inland waterways and lakes that boats sail on.

Installing this kind of system will mitigate that impact but there is so much more that we can all do and the following articles and links on this page may raise awareness and give you guidance to a better practice while operating your craft. 

Why Clean Sailing is so important.
by Clean Sailors Crew

For centuries, us sailors have used the power of the wind to move across waters – from small lakes and long canals to crossing our largest oceans and circumnavigating our globe. As modes of transport go, sailing can be viewed as one of the cleanest, particularly in comparison to diesel cars or air travel, however sailing is more than using the wind to move us forward and therefore we need to look at the bigger picture...
Our crewmate, Famke, looks at the impact our boats have on our waters and why sailing cleaner is so important.

When we sail, we are not only using the winds to navigate and travel, but we are also surrounded by nature – something we can often forget. It is more than just sailing through the water; we are crossing different ecosystems and habitats, home to millions of species, wherever we are; in our marinas, rivers, lakes and seas. Unlike on land, being on our boats we can’t be much closer to the waters that support our global system. Only a couple of centimeters separate us from the sea and a whole world of the marine life it supports.

Read the full article here

​The dream of turquoise waters is threatened by plastic pollution. Photo: Tor Johnson

Cleaning up our seas: What sailors can do to help.
With the need to clean up our oceans widely evident, we ask how every sailor can be part of the solution

We need to clean up our oceans. Biologist Anna Turns investigates the global scale of plastic pollution, while Toby Hodges looks at how the top sailors and event organisers are leading the charge for change…
From lost fishing nets down to microscopic particles from cosmetics, every piece of plastic ever produced is still on this planet. An astonishing 300 million tonnes of plastic items are produced worldwide every year, it never biodegrades and scientists estimate that as much as four per cent washes into or is dumped at sea every year.

Read full article at: 
https://www.yachtingworld.com/features/cleaning-seas-sailors-can-help-120265​

It's Raining Microfibres
by Clean Sailors Crew

What are Microfibres?
Well, microfibres come from our clothes, and each time we wear or wash them, these tiny particles get released. Sometimes you can see larger fibres floating in the air or sticking to your laptop screen, like dust.
Humans have been wearing and washing fabrics for hundreds of years, so why is this an issue now?
Good question... Traditionally, clothes were made from natural materials such as cotton and wool. Now, modern fabric manufacturing sees many of our clothes made from lightweight, durable, man-made, synthetic materials such as polyester, nylon, polyamide and acrylic. Whilst revolutionary, these materials are all types of plastic. So, when we wear or wash our clothes, we are actually releasing tiny particles of plastic into our environments; the air and water around us and through our ecosystems.

Read the full article here

Scientific research suggests oily bilge water could be harming marine ecosystems and coastal economies.

Bilge dumping is the illegal release of untreated oily wastewater from a vessel’s lower hull. This wastewater, or bilge water, appears as an oil slick in the ocean, which eventually disperses and can migrate to vulnerable coastlines.  
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Vessel bilge dumping incidents typically receive less attention than large oil spills: they are much smaller-scale events, but occur more frequently and potentially can have a significant cumulative effect. 
 
https://skytruth.org/2020/03/bilge-dumping-at-sea-why-should-i-care/

Environmental impact of grey water discharge from ships in the Baltic Sea

Today, the Baltic Sea is the only designated special area under MARPOL Annex IV with respect to sewage discharge and nutrient content. In this area, passenger ships' sewage must be treated according to the IMO standards.

​However another waste is also created, grey water is the drainage from dishwater, shower, laundry, bath and washbasin drains. Discharge of grey water is not regulated by the IMO, but grey water poses an environmental threat since, in addition to bacteria and organic matter, it contains contaminants (i.e. such as chemicals at higher concentrations than if they had occurred naturally), as well as nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous) leading to eutrophication. 
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X20300096

Microplastics generated when opening plastic packaging

New research has found that microplastics can be generated by simple tasks in our daily lives such as by cutting with knives or scissors, tearing with hands or twisting manually, to open plastics containers/bags/tapes/caps.

These processes can generate about 0.46–250 microplastic/cm. This amount is dependent on the conditions such as stiffness, thickness, anisotropy, the density of plastic materials and the size of microplastics.

This finding sends an important warning, that we must be careful when opening plastic packaging and reduce our consumption and use of plastic products, if we are concerned about microplastics and care about reducing microplastics contamination.
​https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-61146-4