What is Wave Energy?

Here at Ocean Conservancy, we know the ocean provides powerful solutions to the climate crisis. Often, that conjures up images of rotating wind turbines rising up from the sea. Offshore wind energy is a growing source of renewable energy in Europe and East Asia, and it is taking off along U.S. coasts. But there is another renewable energy source just over the horizon—wave energy.

What is wave energy?

Waves are created when wind blows over the ocean, moving water molecules at its surface, creating ripples and, eventually, waves. Waves can then drive generators that produce electricity using devices called wave energy converters (WECs).

Engineers around the world have been trying to harness the power of waves into electricity for at least 200 years because of their capacity as a large, predictable and renewable energy source. Wave energy potential exists along every coast although it is greatest in windy areas along the western edges of continents. Just ten percent of the potential wave energy in the continental United States would supply electricity to 13 million homes.

Before we dive deeper into wave energy, I want to clarify one thing: When speaking of “wave energy,” we are not talking about capturing power from ocean currents or tides—those are slightly different types of marine renewable energy that are also currently being researched. Now, let’s dive in.

What does wave energy look like?

Waves are complex and operate in turbulent environments and multiple categories of WECs along with even more specific prototype and experimental designs that exist to generate electricity. Some, like the point absorbers, attenuators and wave surge converters pictured below, use the water to directly push and pull pistons, hydraulic rams or rotary electrical generators to produce electricity. In fact, the first commercial-scale offshore WEC device to sell electricity to a national grid was a 150-meter-long attenuator produced in 2008 off the coast of Portugal. Use of this device, however, was shut down within two months of opening due to technical problems. Other WECs, like the oscillating water column example below, use the waves to drive compressed air through turbines above the water level to generate electricity.

Point absorber WEC

© Al Hicks, NREL

Attenuator WEC

© Al Hicks, NREL

Oscillating wave surge WEC

© Al Hicks, NREL

Oscillating water column WEC

© Al Hicks, NREL

Still many more examples exist as industry engineers have yet to coalesce around a cost-effective and efficient design that can withstand various ocean conditions. While some companies have been able to sell electricity from waves to local grids, commercial WECs remain costly, very small in scale and exist in only a few locations in the world.

Where would we see wave energy?

Wave energy will likely take off where it holds the most promise for certain communities and applications.

At a small-scale, wave energy could power individual devices at sea. Underwater drones, stationary pieces of scientific equipment or marine internet-connected devices could benefit from a renewable energy supply from waves.

Requiring more electricity, remote coastal and island communities must often use small, diesel-powered generators. Many of these communities want to move past these polluting fuel sources, particularly when prices are high. But renewable energy sources such as wind and solar might be too intermittent or sparse to rely on. Waves, however, constantly crash near the shore, offering more stable electricity production.

The proximity of waves to communities can reduce the need for long transmission lines as well. In the United States, almost 40% of the population (127 million people) lives in coastal counties. Much of their electricity is produced far inland, making wave energy and its reduced infrastructure needs an attractive alternative. Utility-scale wave energy production is likely decades in the future, but small-scale wave farms could boost energy resilience sooner by kickstarting larger power grids out of blackouts caused by storms or providing power for emergency communications.

If utility-scale wave energy does take off, it could also complement wind and solar projects in two ways: It could provide electricity when the sun is not shining, or the wind is not blowing. In addition, wind and solar sometimes produce more electricity than is needed at a specific time, so large batteries are used to store that excess power for later. These batteries are expensive and their critical mineral components are currently in tight supply. Wave energy could offset these needs by providing a consistent baseload power, wind or no wind, day or night.

Wave energy in the United States

Interest and infrastructure for wave energy are slowly growing in the United States. Multiple wave energy development companies have tested their new devices inside artificial wave tanks and are looking to jump into ocean trials. Since 2015, the U.S. Navy has been hosting WECs in Hawaii at one of the few open-ocean, grid-connected wave energy test sites in the world, and the Department of Energy is constructing another larger facility in Oregon that might host WECs in late 2023. Having two sites with monitoring capabilities and different real-world wave conditions will greatly speed up wave energy development.

What are the environmental impacts of wave energy?

In all honesty, so few WECs have been successfully deployed in the ocean that more studies are needed to determine the long-term impacts to the neighboring environment and communities. In addition, WEC designs vary widely, making specific studies less broadly applicable. The Hawaii and Oregon test sites mentioned above will help to bridge those information gaps particularly by monitoring for noise, water chemistry, electromagnetic fields and the alteration of water and sediment flow. Leaking hydraulic fluids and the possible creation of artificial reefs from the WECs will also need investigation.

What’s next for wave energy?

The possibilities for wave energy seem to be as wide as the ocean. The growing interest in ocean renewables, coupled with the additional Oregon testing site coming online soon, gives us hope for another viable clean energy option. So, stick around as we watch the horizon for what happens next!

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How Are Ocean Animals Impacted by Plastics?

The ocean is a vast and beautiful home to so many incredible animals. However, a growing number of creatures are finding their ocean homes polluted by trash. Every year, 11 million metric tons of plastics enter our ocean. To put that in perspective, 11 million metric tons is roughly the same weight as 55,000 blue whales, the largest animal in the ocean. Sadly, that number is larger than the actual population of blue whales currently swimming our Big Blue today. That is a devastating amount of plastic!

However, there is hope. Together, we can keep plastics out of our ocean and away from ocean wildlife. Every fall I get a boost of hope during the International Coastal Cleanup®. Over the years, 17 million volunteers have collected more than 350 million pounds of plastic and debris. This year you can join us to #SeatheChange by cleaning up your local beaches, streams, parks and neighborhoods.

Our trash can affect animals in the ocean hundreds of miles away and picking up that trash can help protect those same animals. Let’s meet some of the marine animals that are affected by ocean plastics and could #SeatheChange from your efforts at this year’s International Coastal Cleanup.

Hermit Crabs

Hermit crabs don’t deserve their name. They are social creatures that live in groups that can include hundreds of their fellow crabs. You’ll see these adorable and friendly crustaceans gracing our International Coastal Cleanup shirts this year as we gather to make a difference for the ocean.

Hermit crabs, unfortunately, are also examples of why we need to do this important work to keep the ocean healthy. Hermit crabs use the discarded shells of other animals to protect themselves. But when they go on their hunt for a new home or for food on polluted beaches, they can become trapped in trash—like bottles or cans—and die. This sets off a deadly chain reaction, because when they die, they emit a scent that tells other hermit crabs in the area that their shell is available to use. These crabs will follow that scent just to become entrapped and perish with the first hermit crab. A research expedition to two remote islands found half a million hermit crabs had been killed by being trapped in trash.

Octopuses

Octopuses are among the smartest invertebrates on the planet. They can escape some of the trickiest situations, twisting and contorting their bodies to evade predators. Yet, there is one threat they cannot escape: ocean plastics.

We’ve seen heartbreaking images of octopuses hiding in or holding onto plastics. In 2017, a scientist in Hawaii found a baby octopus in a pile of plastic debris. A diver in Australia’s New South Wales videoed an octopus clutching four straws in its arms. Another group in Indonesia discovered an octopus living in a plastic cup. And these are only a few that we know of—imagine how many other octopuses are living in plastics but haven’t been caught on camera.

Sea Turtles

© Stacy Groff

Sea turtles see so much of the vast ocean. One leatherback turtle was clocked travelling more than 12,000 miles from Indonesia to Oregon. During their globetrotting, they encounter lots of trash in the ocean. Sea turtles can easily confuse plastic bags for one of their favorite foods: jellyfish. One study tested more than 100 sea turtles from all seven species around the world and found microplastics in the stomachs of every single turtle.

While there’s no good age for sea animals to encounter pollution, trash on our beaches and in our ocean can be particularly deadly for young sea turtles. For baby sea turtles, just half a gram—one one-thousandth of a pound—of ingested plastic can kill them. When a mother sea turtle is crawling back onto the beach where it was born to lay its eggs, it shouldn’t have to dodge plastic debris to get there. And, when sea turtles are in the sea searching for a snack, they shouldn’t be finding—and digesting—single-use plastics like plastic bags.

Whales

 In May 2022, a 47-foot-long adult male sperm whale beached itself in the Florida Keys. The magnificent animal, which typically lives in deeper water offshore, was emaciated. Tragically, it died after stranding in the shallow waters around the Mud Keys, north of Key West,. A necropsy revealed a tangled mass of plastic bags, fishing line and tattered fishing nets had blocked the whale’s stomach, preventing it from absorbing nutrients. The knotted mass of plastic debris likely caused the whale to starve to death.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. In Thailand, a stranded pilot whale was found with 17 pounds of trash in its stomach. Another was found dead in Indonesia after digesting more than a thousand pieces of plastic from bags to flip flops. We should not have to accept these tragic losses of marine life to plastic pollution. The global ocean plastics crisis is one that we humans created, and it’s one that, together, we have the power to solve.

What Can You Do?

From plankton to whales, animals throughout the ocean are finding their homes polluted by plastics. Millions of volunteers from over 173 countries have picked up 384 million of pieces of trash since the start of the International Coastal Cleanup in 1985, all the while recording what they find and helping inform research and legislation across the world. Every bottle, every straw, every piece of trash you clean up can lead to a cleaner, healthier ocean.

No matter where you are, you can help ocean creatures enjoy a trash-free home. Ready to #SeatheChange? Find out how you can join the International Coastal Cleanup.

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How Can We Protect the North Pacific Right Whale?

This blog was written by Kirsten Williams, Summer 2022 Legal Intern for Ocean Conservancy. Kirsten is entering her fourth year as a joint Law (JD) and Master of Environmental Management (MEM) student at Vermont Law & Graduate School and the Yale School of the Environment. Her work focuses on climate change litigation, ocean law and policy, and renewable energy. 

The North Pacific right whale is one of the rarest of all large whale species, and one of the most endangered species on the planet. Despite its massive size (more than 50 feet long!), the North Pacific right whale feeds on tiny plankton by filtering hundreds of gallons of seawater in a single gulp to filter out the organisms with baleen plates.

In addition to the North Pacific right whale, two other species of right whale exist: the North Atlantic right whale, found in the Atlantic Ocean, and the Southern right whale, found in the Southern hemisphere. This blog focuses on the North Pacific right whale.

NOAA Fisheries estimates that only about 30 individuals remain in the Eastern North Pacific right whale stock that visits the Gulf of Alaska and the Southeast Bering Sea.

The North Pacific right whale has been listed as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act since 1973 and is listed as “depleted” under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Data are exceedingly limited for North Pacific right whales due to their small population size and scattered distribution. According to a 2020 stock assessment, the location of winter calving grounds for the North Pacific right whale remains a mystery. Researchers also struggle to assess threats to this species. NOAA Fisheries hypothesizes that vessel strikes, entanglement with fishing gear and other marine debris, ocean noise, biotoxins from harmful algal blooms and climate change may contribute to the whale’s declining numbers.

On July 12, 2022, NOAA Fisheries announced in a review of the designated critical habitat for North Pacific right whales under the Endangered Species Act. Critical habitat is habitat that is needed to support recovery of a listed species. In designated critical habitat, federal agencies are required to consult with NOAA Fisheries to help ensure federal actions do not destroy or adversely modify the habitat.

NOAA Fisheries’ critical habitat announcement came in response to a petition requesting that the agency connect two existing critical habitat areas. According to the petition, connecting the two existing critical habitat units into one expanded, single unit would better protect the fundamental physical and biological needs, such as vital feeding grounds, of this gravely endangered whale. 

In April 2008, after the North Pacific right whale was listed as a separate endangered species—distinct from the North Atlantic right whale—NOAA Fisheries designated approximately 1,175 square miles in the Gulf of Alaska and approximately 35,460 square miles in the Southeast Bering Sea as critical habitat for North Pacific right whales.

Map showing current North Pacific right whale critical habitat designated by NOAA Fisheries in 2008 (gold line) and the requested revision(red line) to critical habitat put forth by the petitioners. © NOAA

The Endangered Species Act requires NOAA Fisheries to solicit comments and new information. Members of the public, governmental agencies, Tribes, the scientific community, industry, environmental organizations and any other interested parties are invited to submit comments on the proposed expansion of designated critical habitat for North Pacific right whales.

Following the public comment period that ends September 12, NOAA Fisheries embarks on an extensive review of the whale’s status, including its biology, ecology, abundance/population trends and any current threats. The agency has 12 months after receiving the petition to conduct the status review and make a final determination on whether the petitioned action—critical habitat expansion—is warranted.

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My Trip Along the Alaska Marine Highway System

The puffins flap vigorously to stay aloft, and those with full bellies can only flop across the water. Shearwaters earn their name as they zip over the wavetops. Kittiwakes and fulmars circle a little higher, looking back and forth for prey. And then there is an albatross. Barely moving its long, elegant wings, this bird of birds soars ahead with scarcely an acknowledgment of the mere mortals it leaves behind.

My wife and I were lucky to see these beautiful birds while aboard the M/V Tustumena, a ferry in the Alaska Marine Highway System, en route from Homer (southern Alaska) to Dutch Harbor (at the base of the Aleutian Chain) and back. The voyage covered 1,646 miles and lasted a week, providing plenty of time to get to know our fellow passengers and the crew. We made seven stops along the way, getting a glimpse of life in remote communities where fishing is a way of life and Indigenous ways run deep. In addition to seabirds, we saw dozens of whales, sea lions, harbor seals and sea otters—and even land animals such as foxes, ground squirrels and a swimming porcupine while ashore.

On the surface, life in this stretch of the North Pacific appears abundant and busy. Plenty of ships travel back and forth carrying cargo or heading out to fish. During our trip, we learned to distinguish between tufted and horned puffins and were amused to watch a bald eagle try to blend in with a flock of shearwaters.

© Henry Huntington

But we also know there is more than meets the eye. Pacific cod in the Gulf of Alaska collapsed in 2019, and the fishery was closed in 2020. The village of Chignik Bay saw few salmon in 2021, an economic and cultural disaster. Without a commercial fishery that year, many residents also decided not to practice traditional fishing lest they endanger future returns, accepting today’s sacrifice for tomorrow’s hope. One of the ferry’s crew had previously worked as a crab biologist but changed careers considering declining crab populations. The crab pots that remain have been found wrapped around whales, a grave concern for the few remaining North Pacific right whales.

Some problems were all too apparent to the naked eye. In Dutch Harbor, we had a picnic lunch on a remote beach. Within minutes, we found a plastic hard hat and filled it with more marine debris and garbage. Two eagles posed picturesquely on a rock outcrop, but a tangle of fishing net sat below them at the tideline, intruding into our photo as well as our enjoyment. Fellow passengers who had taken the journey before spoke of seeing many more birds just a few years earlier, the difference, perhaps, a result of a recent major seabird die-off. While we were impressed with all we saw, we did not realize how much we were also missing.

Our week in this magnificent environment was wonderful and inspiring. It was also sobering as we realized that a healthy ocean is not something we can take for granted. Humans have lived on this coast for thousands of years, but only within the last century have we left such a huge mark on the land and the sea. What must we do to let our descendants enjoy what our forebears have left to us?

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First Wave of Ocean Justice Small Grants

It is with great honor that the Ocean Conservancy’s Ocean Justice team announces the launch of the first annual Ocean Justice Small Grants (OJSG). OJSG is one of the programs borne out of Ocean Conservancy’s commitment to equity and justice. Our advocacy for the global ocean is grounded in our commitment to ocean justice—which we define as the fair and equitable distribution of both the benefits of the ocean’s bounty and the burdens of its complex care. Because global ocean inequalities take shape in a myriad of ways, our work as an ocean advocacy organization must be thoughtful, agile, intentional; and always oriented toward the polestar of a healthier ocean, protected by a more just world.

Climate change and environmental injustices disproportionately impact marginalized communities. Therefore, we cannot attempt to solve these dual crises without first addressing the systemic social and economic inequalities that affect these communities. In our work on the Ocean Justice team, we seek to center the leadership of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPoC), and other marginalized identity communities in creating ocean community-based solutions. We are fully investing in our theory of change by applying an intersectional environmental lens to our development of the Ocean Justice Small Grants program.

Through OJSG, we seek to support and uplift the ongoing work of coastal community groups and push the needle forward on their locally led projects. Through our small grants program, Ocean Conservancy hopes to leverage our resources to spotlight and amplify the excellent conservation work of underrepresented frontline communities. And connecting our grantees to Ocean Conservancy’s network, as well as to each other, helps to cultivate a space for these historically overlooked communities to share expertise and create authentic partnerships as they solve climate and ocean issues at the ground level.

With these grants, we are looking to fund projects that sit at the intersection of a multitude of marginalized identities, and also advance our ocean justice mission in five key ways:

• strengthening coastal communities
• promoting sustainable fishing and traditional indigenous practices
• protecting communities’ connections to the ocean
• advancing ocean innovations
• developing new ocean leaders

Would you or someone you know benefit from an Ocean Justice Small Grant? Contact Mikayla Spencer, Manager of Equitable Ocean Communities, at OJSG@oceanconservancy.org for questions and clarification.

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How Does Filter Feeding Work?

The ocean is filled with a wide variety of organisms that employ different strategies to survive and thrive in the marine environment. For example, all animals need to eat but use different methods to do so—from great white sharks which are top predators and tear apart seals to tiny snails that graze on algae. One way ocean animals eat is through filter feeding.

At first glance a filter feeder may seem like a loafing creature that would rather let food come to them rather than seeking out specific prey. However, there’s a lot more to it than you might expect! Plus, many filter feeders are indicators of the health of their environments and help the balance of water quality.

If you’ve ever felt like swimming around to have tasty food magically drift to you for your culinary pleasure, you’re just channeling your inner filter feeder! Let’s swim into the world of filter feeders and learn more about the incredible way they eat!

What is filter feeding?

Although there are many wild ways in which animals eat, filter feeding is as fascinating as it gets. Filter feeding is a method some animals use to feed where the animal finds their meal by moving through the water, or taking advantage of water moving by them, and extracting small pieces of food and other particles from the water. The creature then filters through the particles and releases the matter they do not want by forcing the water out through a sieve. The sieve type is not the same from species to species: For instance, basking sharks can force the water out through their massive gills while humpback whales use their baleen plates to retain the organisms they’d like to eat and release the remaining particles and water through their mouths.

What are the largest filter feeders?

Some whales, like baleen whales, are, in fact, the largest filter feeders around. Although it may seem odd, some of the biggest ocean animals feed on some of the smallest critters of the sea. Baleen whales eat large quantities of krill in a single intake of water, and whale sharks, the largest fish in the world, take in large amounts of water and keep all the plankton they can. Another large fish, the basking shark, is also a filter feeder that uses their gill rakers in their gill slits to filter the water flowing into their mouth.

© Klaus Stiefel/ flickr

How does filter feeding help water quality?

Maintaining a healthy aquatic ecosystem is a tricky task, but certain filter feeders can help keep things balanced. For example, mussels and oysters are filter feeders that remove plankton, bacteria and toxins from the water and even increase ecosystem health. Without them, phytoplankton could grow out of control, leading to eutrophication which adds excessive richness of nutrients to the water. Many bodies of water depend on these small creatures to balance water quality, however overharvesting and habitat loss due to human activity have led to a decline in these species. This is a prevalent issue in the Chesapeake Bay where filter feeder numbers are dwindling.

What are some other filter feeders?

Along with baleen whales and mollusks, other fascinating creatures also filter feed. Sponges, although they are stationary, have canals that can filter out food from passing water and release the water through openings in the sponge. Flamingos are also an unexpected filter feeder as they feed on the brine shrimp, using their beaks to separate mud from their food. Other waterfowl such as some species of ducks and geese also filter feed, straining their food from the water using their special bills to divide their findings. Manta rays are also unique filter feeders, taking tiny organisms into their open mouths and using their small fins, known as cephalic lobes, to push particles in and filter them out through the plates on their gills.

© Anett Szaszi/ Ocean Image Bank

Filter feeding has been around for a long time: Scientists have found evidence that prehistoric filter feeders once roamed the sea.

So, if you’re ever wondering what it would be like to be a filter feeder, just remember, it’s not as easy as it looks!

Despite their clear importance to the health of our aquatic ecosystems some filter feeders are struggling against the impacts of human activity and habitat loss. You can help by taking action today; visit our Ocean Conservancy action center to protect the wildlife that we and our ocean rely upon.

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Setting Sail to Collect Ghost Gear in Maine

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved being on the water. I come to it naturally: My mother grew up in a family of sailors, and while I never had the chance to sail with them myself, I spent my childhood hearing about their adventures on Lake Michigan. This is why I was so excited to have the opportunity to join Ocean Conservancy’s Global Ghost Gear Initiative® (GGGI) and the Rozalia Project for a cleanup of ghost gear in Maine aboard their 60-foot sailing vessel, the American Promise.

Ghost gear (also called ALDFG or abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear) is the most harmful form of marine debris, and at Ocean Conservancy, we are tackling the issue from all angles, from prevention to removal projects. With support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the GGGI partnered with the Rozalia Project to organize a sailing expedition to remove thousands of pounds of ghost gear and other debris from remote islands in the Gulf of Maine.

The Rozalia Project is a nonprofit dedicated to addressing the problem of marine debris. A longtime partner of Ocean Conservancy, the Rozalia Project protects and cleans the ocean using technology, innovation and solutions-based research onboard the historic American Promise. Fun fact: The America Promise was used by Dodge Morgan in his record-breaking solo circumnavigation of the planet (a fact my grandfather was delighted to hear). Since its founding in 2010, the Rozalia Project has removed more than 1 million pieces of trash from our ocean and waterways.

In late June 2022, the crew set out on our four-day journey. We began by sailing a little more than 10 nautical miles from Bar Harbor to Corea Harbor, and, right away, the Ocean Conservancy crew was thrown into the action: Under the watchful eyes of our captain and first mate, we were hauling sails, cranking winches and even steering the boat through a minefield of lobster traps. We learned ship terminology and got familiar with every nook and cranny of our home for the next few days. We slept in bunks onboard, allowing us the quickest and easiest access to Maine’s thousands of coastal islands.

From bottom left clockwise to bottom right: Alliyah Lusuegro, Ainsley Stewart, Sarah Sorenson, Madeline Black (author), Chris Dorsett © Gigi Veve

After a night in Sand Cove (and my first anchor watch), we set out for the main event: a cleanup of Outer Bar Island. In my years working with the GGGI team, I’ve seen plenty of ghost gear, but this sight was on a different level. Half of the island was piled high in every direction with lobster traps, fishing rope, bleach and oil bottles, and other debris. However, it wasn’t entirely surprising. Ghost gear is a problem wherever fishing takes place, and in areas like Maine with big fishing industries, the problem is particularly pronounced. Within the United States, it’s been estimated that as many as 20-25% of lobster pots are lost annually. In Maine alone, 3 million pots are set every year, potentially adding at least 600,000 new ghost traps to Maine waters annually.

© Gigi Veve

We had our work cut out for us. On the first day of cleanup, we were joined by volunteers from the Maine Island Trail Association, and we split up into teams. Some of us were tasked with disentangling traps, cutting out the bricks used to weigh them down and cutting off any entangled rope, then hauling the gear to small boats to take them to the mainland. Another group took the gear to the mainland, brought it to a dumpster and played a treacherous game of Tetris to get all the traps to fit. It was tough work, but after a single day, we had cleared about a third of the island’s debris.

The next day was focused primarily on cleaning some of the smaller trash, like ropes and buoys, along with data collection. All the debris collected during the trip were recorded and added to the GGGI’s global data portal, the world’s largest repository of ghost gear data. This data is used to better track, understand and address the problem of ghost gear.

© Gigi Veve

In total, we removed a whopping 4,723 pounds of traps, rope and other debris from the island—and the majority of this, by weight, were traps that could be recycled. We partnered with Rowlands Recycling in Steuben, Maine, to recycle the metal into light iron from the traps we collected.

The final day of the trip was spent sailing about 50 nautical miles down to Rockport, Maine. There the Rozalia Project crew was going to perform maintenance on the American Promise ahead of their plans to continue the cleanup and remove an estimated 7,000 additional pounds of ghost gear later this summer.

As I took the helm of the boat for the first time and steered us past Acadia National Park and through miles of lobster traps, I felt connected to the water, to my family history and to Ocean Conservancy’s work in new ways. Even with aching arms and sunburned ankles, I would have happily turned the boat around to do another cleanup.

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