http://blog.oceanconservancy.org/2014/06/09/to-clean-or-not-to-clean-the-ocean/

A One-Size-Fits-All Solution for the Ocean?

Posted On June 9, 2014 by Nick Mallos

**Update: June 10, 2014**
Ocean Conservancy has been a leader in beach cleanup efforts for nearly
30 years and we are dedicated to continuing these efforts. We applaud
Boyan?s creativity and ideas for an ocean cleanup and recognize that he
has conducted a feasibility study to further outline the ocean cleanup
model. However, the majority of concerns previously voiced by ocean
scientists, as well as Ocean Conservancy, regarding the ecological,
economical and logistical components of the technology still remain
unanswered. Cleanups are an important part of the solution, but Ocean
Conservancy believes that in order to address the growing issue of
plastic pollution in our ocean, we must also focus on preventing plastic
from reaching the ocean in the first place. In addition to our Last
Straw Challenge, we will be rolling out a series of efforts over the
coming year that we hope you?ll participate in, including the
International Coastal Cleanup September 20th. Thank you for your
feedback, and we hope to see you all at this year?s cleanups!

FACT: There are plastics in the ocean.

FACT: Plastics are not good for fish, turtles, birds or marine mammals.

FALSE: Ocean cleanup is the solution.

Over the past year, much attention?some positive, some negative?has been
given to Boyan Slat?s revolutionary concept and prototype for ?The Ocean
Cleanup.? Yes, perhaps in theory?and artistically sketched
blueprints?you can boom, suck and snag plastics floating at the ocean
surface. But in practice, it just doesn?t make sense?ecologically,
economically or logically.

It would be unfair for me to criticize Boyan?s concept without giving my
own opinion, so here it is.

Cleanups are an invaluable education and outreach tool that provide
people a tangible way to become aware and involved in the ocean plastics
crisis. And no one is better suited to discuss the effectiveness of
cleanups than Ocean Conservancy. For the past three decades, volunteers
in our International Coastal Cleanup have removed more than 175 million
pounds of trash?primarily plastics?from beaches and waterways around the
globe. Each year however, there?s more trash to pick up?cleanups cure
the symptoms of plastics pollution, not the disease itself.

Concepts of an ocean cleanup technology are no different. If tomorrow we
could launch the array of 24 sifters outlined in Boyan?s proposal, it
would do nothing to stop the continuous and increasing flow of plastics
into the marine environment. Simply put, we?d increase the size of the
bandage while our pipelines of plastics to the sea run unabated like the
faulty valve in the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.

http://www.theoceancleanup.com/blog/show/item/responding-to-critics.html

08
JUN

Responding to critics

I never intended to write this piece. The articles I am about to comment
on are now over a year old, and when people asked me for a response on
these articles, I always asked them to ?be patient and let the
feasibility study decide?.

But now the published feasibility study indicates The Ocean Cleanup is a
feasible and viable method to clean the oceans of plastic, these
articles are still being used as if its arguments disprove the
scientific research we conducted in the past year, while it?s actually
the other way around. May this piece serve as an instruction manual for
future innovators, who will most certainly come across similar
situations while working to fulfill their mission.

Three years ago ? aged 16 ? I suddenly realized I came across more
plastic bags than fish. A high school science project gave me the
opportunity to investigate the problem for half a year, and when
starting studying Aerospace Engineering, I couldn?t stop thinking about
it. This thinking ultimately led to the passive ocean cleanup concept,
which I presented at a TEDx conference in 2012.

The idea was simple. I wondered; why move through the oceans, if the
oceans can move through you? Instead of going after the plastics, you
could simply wait for the plastic to come to you. Without requiring any
added energy. An array of floating barriers would first catch and
concentrate the debris, enabling a platform to efficiently extract the
debris afterwards. The ocean current would pass underneath the barriers,
taking all neutrally buoyant sea life with it, preventing by-catch.

I then decided to pause both university and social life, enabling me to
focus all my time on developing the idea. But with only 200 euros of
budget, and only several people that offered their help. That all
changed on the 26th of March 2013, when the first articles appeared on
the concept.

Besides the tremendous amount of support I received, some critical
articles inevitably started appearing. An article by Dr. Martini
compared it to a cocktail, while 5Gyres? Mr. Stiv Wilson called it a
?fool?s errand?. Fortunately, the critics did confirm the 50 questions
we set out to answer were the right ones. So I put all 400 media
requests on hold, and started performing an extensive feasibility study.

This week, I presented the results of a year-long study me and my 100
colleagues have been working on. The 530-page report has been authored
by 70 people, and concluded my concept is indeed likely a feasible and
viable ocean cleanup technique. The conclusion has been peer reviewed by
external experts. And because the now outdated plea by Mr. Stiv Wilson
contains most arguments, I will hereby compare and contrast these
arguments with what the research showed us.

http://youtu.be/QpDxE8BhPSM