We're honoured to be invited to speak at the Ocean Cruising Club 70th Anniversary West Coast celebrations at the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, BC, Canada on May 11th 2024. It's a fantastic full day of activities including talks by Duncan and Larissa, plus the opportunity to visit Freeranger on the docks at Royal Victoria Yacht Club. We're giving two presentations on the day. 1:15pm Combating world illegal fishing, where and who it is impacting, global governance and its surprising gaps, innovative solutions, and how cruisers can be better aware of and contribute positively to the issue. 2:30pm Sailors know all too well the challenges our ocean faces from human activity - but what to do about it? Can we, as individuals, really make a difference?  Learn about the smorgasbord of citizen science projects around the world that urgently need participation from sailors and sea-going folk, and how you can personally collect and contribute to these rewarding projects as you cruise. Duncan is a member of the Ocean Cruising Club (OCC), an international organisation for blue water sailors, specifically those who have completed a continuous ocean passage of at least 1,000 nautical miles. Founded in 1954, the OCC provides a network for experienced sailors to share knowledge, experiences, and camaraderie. Tickets: https://www.oceancruisingclub.org/Events

We are thrilled that our ocean citizen science directory for boaters & coastal communities is live on www.freerangeocean.org! This has been a brilliant project to work on with some incredible volunteers around the world. Special thanks to: Beth Dunstan, Hugo Vancraen, Sara Marolt for your hugely valuable contributions in the design and project research Martine Warburton @ Huskii Studio for the beautiful brand identity and design Duncan @ Phoe Design for being the YES man of coding and development Ben Schwartz for wordsmithing magic with the projects The idea came about as we were increasingly asked by people who spend time on and by the water for tips on ways they can contribute to marine research or have a more positive impact. There are so many amazing citizen science projects people can take part in wherever they are, but they don't know how or where to start. Over the years we've come across lots of projects but no doubt there are tonnes more. We decided to pull the projects we knew about or had researched into a free directory that can be accessed easily online. The first version is now live and we will continue to add to it as we discover new projects. It's a great development for our plans to use our non-profit, Free Range Ocean, and our sailboat Freeranger as a platform for ocean science and storytelling through sailing journeys. So far we've already contributed to a global ocean survey during a transpacific delivery in 2023 and have some other exciting voyages/expeditions on the horizon. At talks and events people seem so keen to take action and we hope this will helpful. Find a project that's right for you!

Volunteer position: Would you like to help us compile a citizen science directory for boaters/coastal communities? I'm increasingly asked by people who spend time on and by the water for tips on ways they can contribute to marine research or have a more positive impact. There are so many amazing citizen science projects people can take part in wherever they are, but they don't know how or where to start. Over the years I've come across lots of projects but no doubt there are tonnes more. I'd like to pull the opportunities together in a simple directory (or pdf or map or or or) that can be freely and easily available. In the spring we set up a non-profit called Free Range Ocean which uses sailboat Freeranger as a platform for science and storytelling through sailing journeys. So far we've used it to contribute to a global ocean survey during a transpacific and have some other exciting voyages/expeditions on the horizon. At talks and events people seem so keen to take action and I feel like this would be helpful. If anyone is interested in getting involved to develop the idea further please let me know! Larissa // DM or email: hello@freerangeocean.org p.s. I'm cruising in BC, Canada but you could be based anywhere to contribute.

To celebrate World Ocean Day 2023 we’re happy to report that a donation through the 1% for the Planet network member Another World Adventures contributed towards the development our new ocean conservation not-for-profit called Free Range Ocean and the first of its many exciting projects.  1% for the Planet  is a global organization that encourages businesses, individuals, and nonprofits to contribute to environmental causes. Members of the program commit to donating at least 1% of their annual revenue or personal income to support verified environmental organizations that work on issues such as climate change, conservation, clean energy, sustainable agriculture, and waste reduction. Free Range Ocean is a UK-registered not-for-profit organisation founded in 2023 to inspire action for our ocean through adventure, science and storytelling.  See more here: https://directories.onepercentfortheplanet.org/profile/free-range-ocean-ltd

As part of the Free Range Ocean transpacific voyage from New Zealand to Canada in 2023 we undertook a project to support a multi-institutional project, funded by NASA and including the University of Hawaii, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Applied Physics Laboratory of the University of Washington, Smithsonian Institution and Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Aim: The project is to study changes in the pelagic ecosystem induced by the growing amounts of man-made debris floating in the ocean. This debris provides a new, long-living substrate that creates a sustained “floating” ecosystem in the otherwise low-nutrients environment. The idea of the project resulted from the discovery of hundreds of Asian coastal species that crossed the North Pacific with the debris from the 2011 tsunami in Japan. The project includes: tracking real debris, deployment of a set of Lagrangian instruments, and collection of biological samples. Observations will allow us to improve drift models of various types of debris, from fishing nets to microplastics. Satellite trackers tagging large floating items will enable removal of these debris from the ocean and detailed sampling of biota colonizing these items. Free Range Ocean participation: The passage plan for Freeranger would take the crew through the North Pacific and close to or through the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ – the densest accumulation zone of marine debris in the world. With our support, they had an opportunity to support the research by carrying and if possible deploying up to two trackers if the conditions and opportunity are appropriate. In Honolulu ahead of departure the crew took on board two trackers and made plans to document phenomena as slicks and windrows (aggregations of seafoam, seaweeds, plankton and natural debris that appear on the ocean surface), bacterial blooms, assemblages of neuston (small aquatic organisms inhabiting the surface layer or moving on the surface film of water) and identifiable debris. The crew observed much marine debris during the voyage (which can be seen as micro plastics and micro fibres in the water sample data) plus larger floating items, but it was not possible to deploy the tracker due to the sea state and lack of opportunities for significant enough sized debris within the range of 30 – 38 degrees N. It was a reminder of how difficult it is to get this kind of data at sea and why citizen science projects like these are so important.