Ocean Plastic Recovery

Helen of the Sea carried out its inaugural Ocean Plastic Recovery Expedition in December 2022. After receiving a research permit from the Galapagos Islands National Park Service, Alexandra organized a team of local fishermen, SCUBA divers and volunteers to circumnavigate San Cristobal Island in search of discarded 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 scientific laboratories in mainland Ecuador and the United States to explore consumer product applications.