“It is clear, now is the time, our global ocean is at a crucial crossroads. Our ocean cannot be our toxic waste dump. Project Kaisei, established in 2009, continues to inspire innovation on both land and at sea, finding ways to stop our escalation of single-use plastics and to clean-up our decades of ocean abuse.”
Mary Crowley
Ocean Voyages Institute (OVI) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 1979 by a group of international sailors, educators, and conservationists with a mission of teaching maritime arts and sciences and preserving the world’s oceans. OVI is dedicated to providing sail training opportunities to youth on a worldwide basis as well as providing access to the ocean world and educational programs. In 2009, Project Kaisei was launched to focus on major ocean clean-up and to raise awareness regarding the global problem of marine debris/ocean trash.
Ocean Voyages Institute’s Board of Directors and volunteers have extensive experience designing and conducting ocean research projects and sailing education programs. OVI has 34 years of experience which includes: creating marine biology courses for high school students, a Soviet/American Sail on the 290-ft square-rigged ship Druzba from Odessa to Baltimore and return, three scientific expeditions to the North Pacific Gyre, convened a Marine Debris Collection Equipment Think Tank and raised global awareness of this marine debris problem.