Ocean Plastic Reclaim

Helen of the Sea carried out its inaugural Ocean Plastic Reclaim Expedition in December 2022. After receiving a research permit from the Galapagos Islands National Park Service, Alexandra Helen organized a team of local fishermen, SCUBA divers and volunteers to circumnavigate San Cristobal Island in search of misused fishing gear and consumer plastics. They cut away fishing lines at depth using SCUBA gear and collected trash from the coastlines. The material was weighed, sorted, cleaned and shipped to a scientific laboratory in mainland Ecuador to explore market applications.