Yacht Relief Alliance

Register your boat to deliver supplies, volunteers or identify available cargo to the storm-ravaged Caribbean.

In 2015 Dominica suffered badly from Tropical Storm Erika. In 2016 Haiti was severely devastated by Hurricane Matthew, and in 2017 Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria did major damage to the USA and a number of Caribbean islands. Many islands, including Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, St. Martin, Barbuda and Dominica have suffered from lack of power, healthcare, shelter and even food or clean water; in some cases that will continue through 2018.

International Rescue Group (IRG) is working in partnership with the SSCA to provide an information system to register available yachts anywhere in the world that can carry much-needed cargo to storm-hit destinations and source supplies. IRG is funding this Project and providing the data.

YACHT REGISTRY: If you will be traveling to the Caribbean this season and are willing to transport supplies or crew, or if you can provide a place for volunteers to sleep on location in the Caribbean, please register your vessel HERE. 

CARGO REGISTRY: There are literally hundreds of charities, companies, individuals and agencies collecting donated supplies and struggling with shipping them. In some cases the cost of shipping through normal channels is more than the donated value of the goods, and through conventional channels, sometimes goods are lost or stolen or even simply "stuck" at disabled ports. These groups desperately need a way of transporting to island and remote coastal communities directly in a way that only boats can achieve. If you know of any such charities, companies, individuals or agencies with supplies to ship, click HERE. 

The Yacht Relief Alliance (YRA) is a coalition of disaster relief and humanitarian aid related organizations, agencies, NGOs, charities and individuals who provide services involving cruisers and boats. Members of the Yacht Relief Alliance work together to coordinate aid efforts worldwide and share resources. The SSCA is proud to host this Clean Wake Project as a founding member of the YRA.

Sea Mercy

If the South Pacific is on your cruising horizon, here's Sea Mercy, a humanitarian Clean Wake organization with several project categories that welcome volunteers with the kinds of skills and willingness to help that are second nature to SSCA members. You can enlist via online registration before you cast off.

An example of SSCA's global reach was the response of SSCA members in the South Pacific and coordination cooperation stateside to help in the disaster response efforts of Sea Mercy on Vanuatu in the aftermath of the level 5 Cyclone Pam in March 2015. That Sea Mercy was able to step in quickly to assess the destruction and marshal necessary resources whether human, vessel or material, was an astonishing achievement and a solid introduction for SSCA. The organization learned the ropes in 2014 with Cyclone Ian in Tonga.

A relatively young but growing organization, Sea Mercy's vision is "to be the most effective preventive, curative, promotional, and rehabilitative floating health care provider to (11) remote island nations" in the South Pacific and deliver health care, education, and economic development assistance. In three years Sea Mercy has targeted 3 of those island nations: Kingdom of Tonga, Republic of Fiji, and Vanuatu.

Sea Mercy engages the attention of volunteers with the tag line "Sailing with a greater purpose. One vessel can make a difference... Our fleet can change the world". There is an extensive menu of ways in which cruisers in the South Pacific, based on their resumes, skills, talents, and interests, can participate in different programs whether long term, periodically, or in a quick response mode.

Enlist as a volunteer online by visiting seamercy.org.

Indigo V Expeditions - Become a Citizen Oceanographer 

Planning an open ocean cruise? If so, you are the key to helping scientists better understand the health of the world’s oceans.

Because the ocean is a dynamic and tremendously large ecosystem, millions of observation points are required to better understand the ocean environment. However, traditional oceanographic research vessels are unable to cover this vast space. A modern research vessel typically costs more than $30,000 per day to operate, and research vessels only cover a fraction of the world’s oceans.

The existing missing data limits our ability to predict ocean weather, determine the stability of the food web and better understand the impacts of ocean acidification. By equipping as many ocean-going vessels with the tools to collect data, we can obtain large-scale data sets about bacteria, plankton and the marine eco-systems that have never been possible before. All data is released publicly and advanced models will be used to better manage and preserve our precious oceans.

Participation is Easy and Free!
By using what’s known as citizen science, Indigo V Expeditions sets out to prove that the concept of crowd-sourcing oceanography can solve the great data collection bottleneck. Together we can monitor microbial communities in the world’s oceans year after year in the same locations. This is crucial to building a baseline of ocean health that can be closely monitored for changes.

To participate, please contact Rachelle Lauro with Indigo V Expeditions at rachelle@indigovexpeditions.com. Or visit www.indigovexpeditions.com for more information.

Help Research Sargassum Weed Infestation in the Atlantic and Caribbean

Sargassum weed is an increasing problem in the Atlantic -- the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean – ruining beaches, boat engines, rudders, and watermaker systems, etc. Some vessels have been reported being stuck in over five feet of mat, and on Virgin Gorda the watermaking system for the island was shut down for weeks.

Read more about the threat posed by sargassum in this article by Joan Conover, published in the September, 2017 Caribbean Compass. Cruisers are uniquely situated to collect and post data, e.g., Lat/Long, description of the mat (stream or horizon-to-horizon), as well as photos.

Instructions for volunteers and posting forms are available at http://gcrl.usm.edu/sargassum/sargassum.observation.form.php

EPIC - Environmental Protection in the Caribbean

Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC) is a non-profit organization registered as a 501(c)(3) in the United States and is a registered foundation in St. Maarten. The organization was established in 2000 with the mission to protect the Caribbean environment through research and community-based action. This mission is achieved through three core programs:

• Conservation of Wetlands and Coastal Habitats
• Songbirds as Environmental Indicators
• Keystone Cays: Conservation of Key Offshore Islands

When approaching projects at new sites, the group’s methodology typically begins with scientific research, scoping meetings, and building partnerships. EPIC can then formulate a plan for conducting outreach programs and, ultimately, community-based actions to protect and/or restore habitats.

EPIC’s strategy could be summed up as Research, Outreach, and Conservation (ROC). Upcoming projects will:

• Address conservation issues affecting wildlife reserves within the Grenadines.
• Locate nesting locations for the endangered Black-capped Petrel and work for its protection.
• Protect and restore the Simpson Bay Lagoon and other key wetlands.

Please visit EPIC’s website at www.epicislands.org or their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/epicislands. Or for further information or to volunteer please contact:

Natalia Collier
Executive Director
Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC)
411 Walnut St. #6749
Green Cove Springs, FL 32043-3443
U.S.A
(707) 845-4261
Skype: natalia.collier

Monitoring Radiation in the Pacific

In March 2011, Japan's Fukushima nuclear plants were damaged by earthquake and tsunami. Four nuclear reactors suffered severe damage, explosive events and core melting. Radioactivity was released into the air, onto land and into the sea. Ongoing problems at the plants have resulted in continued contamination of the region. The exposure that cruisers, including SSCA members, might be subjected to as the result of this contamination is not known. 

To our knowledge, no systematic monitoring of radiation has been done in the Pacific since this event. This concerns cruisers who will transit through these waters, who collect and use materials from the sea (such as fish or shellfish), who obtain water via reverse osmosis of seawater or by catching rainwater and who experience tsunami debris. Boats may discover large tsunami debris fields, fields reported to be spreading across the Pacific. This debris has already been discovered on December 15, 2011 east of Midway Islands, and is reported landing in British Columbia, Canada, December 16, 2011. The Canadian media reports the public should take care in regards to what is in the debris (remains, radiation, etc.) and to utilize a dosimeter when in contact with items. We assume the same for boats on passage or in harbor. 

Because there is no easy way for cruisers to monitor their exposure to radiation, this Clean Wake Program was started. In discussions with several SSCA members in the Pacific, we have concluded that they too were concerned with radiation exposure and wanted a simple way to monitor this. READ MORE

Oceans Watch

Oceans Watch promotes marine conservation projects through partnerships between yachting and diving enthusiasts, coastal communities, and marine biologists. This is a fantastic opportunity to pitch in while you cruise. See http://www.oceanswatch.org/

Help Report Seabirds

BirdLife International estimates that one-third of seabirds are vulnerable or globally endangered, due to threats from predators on nesting grounds, some fisheries practices, and marine pollution such as plastics.

But 70% of the world is ocean, and pelagic birds—those that spend their lives at sea—are thinly documented. For example, when the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred, so little was known about seabirds on the Gulf of Mexico that early spill data had to function as baseline information.

Yet there is a huge untapped resource of watchkeepers already at sea: You on your cruising vessel!

The Birding Aboard project was created to raise awareness among long-distance boaters from around the world to record their seabird observations. Data goes to Cornell University’s eBird database (www.ebird.org), where boaters’ sightings become a resource for scientists and conservation groups worldwide.

So far, reports have spanned over 100 degrees of latitude—from Maine at North 48º through the tropical Caribbean to South 58º near Antarctica.

You don't need to be an expert to participate! Simply take multiple digital photos of birds seen en route—offshore or coastal—followed by a photograph of your chartplotter showing latitude/longitude. We'll help you identify and report your observations.

The website has information on recommended cameras, field guides and apps, optional tally sheets, cockpit identification cards, and materials specially designed for kids aboard to participate.

For information on how you can be "eyes on the water" for seabird conservation,
see www.birdingaboard.org or join the Facebook group www.facebook.com/groups/BirdingAboard/

WhaleForce

WhaleForce is an international cetacean (whales, dolphins, porpoises) survey that was established in 1986 by the Cochrane Ecological Institute (CEI), www.ceinst.org, a registered charity. SSCA member Clio Smeeton, founder of WhaleForce, was reared on a boat and, from experience, knew that blue water and coastal racing and cruising yachtsmen and women (and children) are in an ideal position to monitor cetacean occurrence and movement because they are sailing the sea for pleasure. Because the sea belongs to no country, no country takes responsibility for maintaining the health and the integrity of its (especially migratory) wildlife populations (invertebrates, fish, mammals, reptiles and birds). One way to address this is by undertaking non-intrusive monitoring of the seas and oceans.

Cruisers can participate in this important census by sending to Clio (cei@nucleus.com) the GPS co-ordinates and a brief description of sightings of cetaceans and also significant pollution/garbage, and if possible, accompanying photographs, as well. A fascinating aspect of sending photographs is that there are still unidentified cetacean species in the sea, known to science only by a few bones. Thus the scientific opportunities presented by digital photographs of living examples of these, thus far, rare species accompanied by date, location, and description are vast. As cetaceans are at the top of the food chain they are the first to suffer from accumulated pollutants and from overhunting. When WhaleForce was started, information packages were placed on Tall Ships as well as Blue Water and ARC Rallies, and then on international yacht races; but the ideal respondents are those people who are not competing; who are sailing for the love of it and are therefore inclined to observe all about them.

The CEI can provide a cetacean identification book and a Burgee, and more information on WhaleForce itself can be found on the CEI website, www.ceinst.org.

Editor’s Note: Clio is the daughter of Miles and Beryl Smeeton, s/v Tzu Hang, recipients of the 1988 Seven Seas Award.