Volvo Ocean Race Leads Environmental Efforts
10/08/2009
The racing may be over in the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race but its effects are still being felt following its campaign against ocean degradation.
The project, led by race partner Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics saw Media Crew Members tasked with collecting water samples along the route to help map life in the world’s oceans.
Their efforts were aimed at helping to increase knowledge of one of the greatest environmental threats facing the world's seas - the spread of invasive species and subsequent research by the United Nation's International Maritime Organisation (IMO) shows that marine microorganisms are moved around the world in ship ballast water and risk, if the water is not purified, being released in new ecosystems where they lack natural predators, a threat that remains relatively unknown to the general public.
One example is the comb jelly, originally from the Atlantic coast of America, which has spread exponentially into the Baltic Sea.
Commenting on the Volvo Ocean Race project, Torkel Elgh, CEO of Wallenius Water, said: "The objectives are to spread knowledge of this global threat and to get more countries to ratify the convention the IMO has drawn up to solve the problem [and] since the Volvo Ocean Race began, five countries have ratified the IMO's convention, which is a most satisfying result."
Wallenius Water is responsible for processing the results and is now initiating extensive work to analyse and interpret the measurements, with some interesting trends already apparent.
"At present, ballast water management is governed by local regulations and recommendations that encourage vessels to change ballast water out to sea [but] measurements made during the Volvo Ocean Race indicate several areas where the amount of sea life is roughly the same out to sea as it is near the coast," Elgh added.
From the 183 water samples taken by Media Crew Members over nine months and 37,500 nautical miles, almost 2,000 readings have been added to Wallenius Water's database and results of the water sampling project will be important for future research within the field with a post-race network established to enable further discussions and to continue the work of spreading the importance of ratification of the IMO convention.
www.volvooceanrace.org / www.imo.org
