Volvo Ocean Race Goes Blue

We are just a few weeks away from the start of the Volvo Ocean Race - a race with an incredible history, remarkable public attention, and now a robust effort to raise awareness about ocean conservation issues.

The race itself is making an effort to use an onboard crew member to take regular water samples to obtain and catalog data to analyse the biomass of the water in open seas not on the regular shipping routes, and to find out the kind of micro-organisms that are regularly transported in ballast water.  With an ever-expanding shipping sector that moves over 90% of the world’s commodities transferring an estimated 3-5 billion tonnes of ballast water internationally each year, the problem is an ecological, economic and health threat.  Learn more about the conservation efforts of the race here.

In addition to the race having a blue component, many of the teams are working to use their race as a means of expanding public awareness of conservation issues.  Take Team Russia.  Their boat name - Kosatka - means Killer Whale in Russian and they are supporting a campaign to protect whales globally.  You can learn more here.

In a few weeks the sailing world will turn their attention to this amazing around-the-world race that pits some of the best ocean racing sailors against the full might of the oceans.  It is a good step to see that some of the organizational attention will be spent on using this opportunity to raise awareness.