FOR OUR CHILDREN - European Maritime Day: The children of Burgas present Alberto Laplaine Guimarães with a gift from the Bulgarian City. Sustainable growth and aims for a circular economy are for our children and their children, and their children, and their children - lest we forget why we are working to clean our act up. As trustees of planet earth we should hand the world to our successors in better shape than we found it. Copyright © photograph June 1 2018 Cleaner Ocean Foundation.

There are a number of organizations that exist to promote world peace and societal projects for the good of mankind. These include the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and many smaller concerns that grant aid suitable projects. In addition there are incentives by most countries to promote clean energy and blue growth.

Each nation making such efforts may not know or rely on their own efforts such that a coordinated global attack on ocean pollution is the result - and that is what we hope world leaders will agree is needed for such an assault on the plastic that threatens to convert our oceans into a toxic poly-slurry.

FAO ON BLUE GROWTH

Today’s fisheries sector hosts a multibillion dollar industry that is a vital source of food and nutrition, employment, trade, economic wellbeing and recreation.

What is blue growth?

The concept of a "blue economy" came out of the 2012 Rio+20 Conference and emphasizes conservation and sustainable management, based on the premise that healthy ocean ecosystems are more productive and a must for sustainable ocean-based economies.

To support a shift to this new approach, FAO launched the Blue Growth Initiative, through which it will assist countries in developing and implementing blue economy and growth agendas.

Why blue growth?

Blue growth looks to further harness the potential of oceans, seas and coasts to:

* Eliminate harmful fishing practices and overfishing and instead incentivize approaches which promote growth, improve conservation, build sustainable fisheries and end illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing

* Ensure tailor-made measures that foster cooperation between countries

* Act as a catalyst for policy development, investment and innovation in support of food security, poverty reduction, and the sustainable management of aquatic resources.

How will it be implemented?

* Aquaculture – promote policies and good practices for farming of fish, shellfish and marine plants in a responsible and sustainable manner

* Capture fisheries – support implementation of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF) and related instruments to restore fish stocks, combat IUU and promote good fish production practices and growth in a sustainable manner

* Seafood systems – promote efficient seafood value chains and improved livelihoods

* Eco-system services – Promote regulatory regimes and approaches to restore vital coastal habitats, biodiversity and eco-system services (incl. carbon capture, storm and wave defenses, tourism etc).

THE FAO: FOOD & AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO; French: Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture, Italian: Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate arguments and debate policy.

FAO is also a source of knowledge and information, and helps developing countries in transition modernize and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices, ensuring good nutrition and food security for all. Its Latin motto, fiat panis, translates as "let there be bread". As of May 2017, FAO has 197 member states, along with the European Union (a "member organization"), and the Faroe Islands and Tokelau, which are associate members.

The FAO has not yet evaluated the potential of SeaVax as a tool to keep our fisheries in better health than they are at present.

THE PLASTIC MENACE

One of the main issues to recognise and overcome is not taking plastic out of the ocean, but cutting through umpteen levels of bureaucracy, multiplied by 20 countries. We would spend more time negotiating with each country to get the bureaucrats to agree on levels of contribution, then on how to deal with the problem, than actually dealing with the problem.

One possible solution that we are here proposing is to create an Ocean Alliance against plastic, specifically to target the build up of associated problems for our next generations and cut through the red tape to get to the blue tape.

By coordinating world efforts cost effectively we may speed up the development of potential solutions. Administrative delays are the enemy of progress, only normally cut through in times of war.

This is a proposal that is designed to reduce the cost of our administration, where applying for grants from different groups is sapping our efforts. This is because most application processes are complicated and time consuming, with significant delays between calls and funding - and of course - no guarantee of success. We might skip over much of the red-tape by asking countries directly for contributions for membership to an Ocean Alliance. We call this our blue tape method.

ONE PLANET, ONE OCEAN

We share one ocean and one planet. We may care to think otherwise, but in the greatest technical challenge we have yet faced as brothers and sisters of planet earth there are no borders. What neighbor countries trash today is your pollution problem tomorrow, and what you fail to clean up today as responsible parents is our children's legacy for generations to come.

With plastic being a toxin carrier and bio-amplifier in the food chain, we can expect that people ingesting fish exposed to marine plastic will be that much more likely to suffer cancer related problems in life, with follow on costs to the health services of contributor nations.

The unique quality of humans is our ability to reason and be reasonable. Provided that the main industrial players in the world accept that plastic production and usage is linked to Gross Domestic Product, it is reasonable to expect that those with most to gain from ocean research and regeneration might want to contribute what they can afford.

We know that world leaders will consider it unfair if they are asked to contribute more than other nations, but would also expect that each nations should match fund any coordinated efforts of this nature. Funding need only continue until SeaVax reaches break even point, at which stage members might expect to benefit from ongoing operations without any cost of membership attaching if they elect to operate their own fleets on a free-license basis.

OCEAN ACTION PLAN

The World needs an Ocean Action Plan to coordinate the efforts of member nations that in turn will benefit each other as the oceans move from one shoreline to the shores of a neighbor country. To help us develop an international strategy we need to generate sufficient funds to effectively make headway, estimated to be in the region of $10 million dollars to develop a SeaVax prototype. Follow on expenses, or pledges of ongoing support should be included to cover the cost of helping contributing nations to set up fleets of ocean cleaning boats - and running them in a network or pattern that stands the best chance of regenerating our oceans. We anticipate it will take around three years to get things moving.

PROPOSED ACTION PLAN IN BRIEF

An Action Plan will involve coordinated research, communications and operations designed to tackle marine plastic, working with other organizations and academics who are committed to such development, to make people aware of the dangers of plastic pollution and the need to review packaging policies.

An Action Plan will involve:

1. Developing ocean cleaning vessels and a central hub to coordinate plastic recovery missions and recycling.

2. Incorporate an awareness campaign to target young and old, to promote responsible use of plastics.

3. Lobbying Governments and Corporations for a rethink on product packaging design and recycling.

4. Collecting grants, accounting for and end of year reporting on progress to Ocean Alliance members.

5. As appropriate and to be agreed by members, winding down the 'Alliance' and handing operations over to individual nations or other international bodies once the plastic menace is averted.

World Oceans Anti-plastic Alliance (WOAA)

Cleaner Ocean Foundation Ltd

Solar Studios (Solar House)

BN271RF

United Kingdom.

Tel/Fax: 0044 1323 831727

Email: growth @ blue-growth . org

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS 2018

TIMESCALE EXAMPLE

If (for example) world leaders could agree to contribute within 12 months from July 2018, it would take around three years from that Agreement to get things moving and produce a SeaVax prototype - assuming cooperation from all members of such an Alliance.

From a point in time where a SeaVax (type) prototype was deemed sufficiently proven to go into production, it would take five AmphiMax portable boatyards to produce 8 SeaVax units a year each (@ six week assembly time) that could launch 40 SeaVax ships collectively. If this formula were used as a guide, it would take 3 years to complete a proposed fleet of 120 SeaVax (type) vessels for the Indian Ocean, without clogging up that nation’s shipyards.

A similar plan would proceed in tandem for the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, meaning that within 3 years a global fleet of 360 ocean dustcarts could be operational.

It would then take an estimated five years to make an impact on fish stocks - as in stabilization - and within 10 years we might reasonably anticipate a percentage recovery of roughly 0.5% a year, meaning that it would take 96 years for our ocean fish stocks to recover to 1970 levels, by 2114. This assumes parallel action to tackle climate change and international bans on single use plastic, or better recycling rates on land.

REDUCING RECOVERY TIME

The only way to improve on the 2114 figure would be to operate more SeaVax vessels:

SeaVax x  720 = 48 years

SeaVax x 1440 = 24 years

This is on the assumption that filtration time does not reach total waste absorption, which is likely at some point even at 360 SeaVax vessels.

ECONOMICS

The blue economy is said to be valued at $24 trillion in total* (USD). According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the world production of fish in 2005 consisted of 93.2 million tonnes captured by commercial fishing in wild fisheries. The number of individual fish caught in the wild has been estimated at up to 2.7 trillion per year.

Of this the net value = 93.2m x 6668* ($/ave/tonne) = $621,457,600,000.00

Divide this up by the area of our oceans (344.8m km2): $   1,802,371,230  per million square kilometers. Hence:

It is as yet not possible to suggest a rate of ocean recovery with any accuracy, as insufficient data exists. But, if we were to aim for just 1/10^th of one percent for ocean recovery per annum, this would give us a return of $621,457,600  million ($.6.2m) in dollar value in terms of fish yield recovery per year.

In ten years that equates to: $6,214,576,000 ($6.2b) and so on.

On top of that we should add the value of the recovered plastic, and on top of that the fact that toxin levels should drop dramatically in terms of bio-accumulation, making fish safe to eat once more.

WHAT THEN IS THE COST OF THE FLEET ?

A SeaVax could in theory pay for itself in five years based on a target cost for a production SeaVax as being $6.56 million dollars and a return rate of $0.39 cents per kilogram for recovered ocean plastic, where clean recycled plastic can reach as much as $0.80 cents per kilogram on the open market, variable. At the moment plastic in the UK is $0.07 - 0.20 cents, making a fleet less profitable save only for the regeneration. 

Based on these estimates, a fleet of 120 SeaVax would require an investment in the region of $787 million dollars, moving into operational profit after around four years, but the real gains would be from the ocean as marine life has cleaner water in which to stage a recovery.

For all the oceans at the lowest suggested level of operations we would need around 360 SeaVax vessels (or equivalent) taking the bill to $2.361 billion for a $0.621 billion annual return - hence: 3.8 years until it would be possible to achieve a break even point in $dollar terms.

Cleaner Ocean Foundation offers that this would be a small price to pay for tending to an issue that a few years ago the Global Ocean Commission could offer no potential solutions for. This is our vision for a better aquatic world. The Cleaner Ocean Foundation invite you to share that vision in joining WOAA: the proposed World Ocean Anti-plastic Alliance.

*Estimated