World Oceans Day 2019

Monday, June 10, 2019 by Jon Kinson

In one corner of the tent, a future ocean explorer used a small net to pluck pieces of plastic from a tank of water while across the way a group of people, using old T-shirts, created reusable bags good for grocery shopping in order to skip using plastic bags.

But conversations and strategies about limiting single-use plastics and keeping them out of the ocean spread throughout Sunday’s World Oceans Day event, held in the Harbor View Terrace Tent and on the Aquarium Plaza.

The focus of this year’s World Oceans Day was on eliminating single-use plastics, and several like-minded groups joined the New England Aquarium to provide information and helpful advice to limit the use of single-use plastics.

A youngster tries to pluck plastic out of a tank of water at World Oceans Day 2019.

We would like to thank our partner and sponsors:

Presentations

The day included Plastic-y Situation: Community Solutions for Plastic Pollutions Panel Discussion. The panelists were State Rep. Lori Erhlick (8th Essex District); Ian Donnelly, Special Assistant to the Commissioner, City of Boston Environment Department; and Muna Adan, Peer Leader and Beach Sister. The discussion was moderated by Kelly Kryc, Ph.D., Director of Marine Conservation Policy and Leadership, New England Aquarium.

Also Lou Kratchman, Microplastic Sensor Project Lead at Draper Labs presented a talk entitled World’s First Self-Contained Lab-On-A-Ship Microplastic Sensor in the North Pacific Gyre.

A ceremony was held for Ocean Stewardship Awards.