Victoria, port host to plastic-plucking ship

• Never really thought about it
• Oh yeah. I have a reusable water bottle, for example
• Hells, yes. Plastic sucks
• Nope. It's convenient and that's what matters

Today’s approx. read time: 6 minutes

If you see two medium-sized, slightly rusty, blue service ships with yellow cranes moored by the Breakwater, consider them two of the Pacific Ocean’s besties.

Written in large, white letters on the Maersk Trader and Maersk Tender is The Ocean Cleanup, revealing their connection to an international project—with Victoria its main port—to rid the Pacific Ocean of as much plastic and garbage as possible.

Last week, the ships chugged in after cleanup crews pulled one of their biggest hauls (11,340 kilograms) from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a huge accumulation of floating litter—mostly plastic—and the largest of the planet’s five ocean patches. It’s three times the size of France.

“The catches have been getting larger, which is good, all things considered,” Alan Dunton, a volunteer member of Ocean Cleanup’s communications team, tells Capital Daily.

Using systems of netting as long as 2.09km, the ships collected 57,000kg (63 tons) over the last month and 4,851,312kg (5,347 tons) of plastic in total.

A lot of the garbage is from commercial shipping, such as netting and buoys, but it’s a veritable plastic-palooza out there at the patch, halfway to Hawaii from here.

“They find literally everything,” Dunton says. “Toilet seats, kids’ toys, bottles, I mean, you name it, it’s out there.”

Much of the garbage originates from our rivers, Dunton tells Capital Daily.

The smaller, lighter stuff tends to sink or break down and wash up on shorelines, he says. But a lot of the rest makes its way to the Pacific and then rides the gyres—a large system of rotating ocean currents—to the garbage patch.

The ships used to use San Francisco as their main port but they’ve been operating from Victoria since a short period prior to the pandemic.

It’s here the crew (approximately 22 on each vessel) will test new systems and stock up on food, supplies “and whatever you need for a crew,” Dunton says. The ships are scheduled to leave Ogden Point today at 6pm.

Keep track of the cleanup here.

For a decade now, the Eventide concert series has brought the weird and wonderful to downtown Victoria.

CFUV, UVic’s campus radio station, began working with the City of Victoria to host live music shows with an alternative focus back in 2014 when Darb Erickson, Victoria's arts, culture and events liaison at the time, reached out to the CFUV station manager to host music shows with a more eclectic lineup during the week.

“He’s always been one of the arts and culture people that’s into weirder music than other [music shows] put on by the city,” jokes Troy Lemberg, CFUV music director, who began volunteering with the series when it first launched.

The concert series has since brought the experimental sounds of noise, punk metal, tech house, and more to the public, with shows now located at Centennial Square.

Performances are free and accessible to anyone passing by—an aspect that makes Lemberg proud.

“Unlike some festivals, we don’t put up big gates or fences to block out other people who might just be around,” Lemberg says. “It exposes people to different forms of art, for anyone walking through [the area], especially youth.”

Lemberg says the series presents artists—especially local ones—who often are pushed underground—to audiences who would otherwise never experience them.

“It was wild to see Griefer perform in the square—he’s iconic in the noise community here, but you only ever see him play in people's basements. But here he was doing his noise set in an open space,” Lemberg says.

He says the series has brought out regular fans, including families, who catch the weekly performances regardless of the genre.

Eventide’s final show for the summer—and a celebration of 10 years—takes place today at 6pm in its usual spot in Centennial Square. If you can’t make it tonight, there’s always next summer—Lemberg confirms they’ll be back for another season.

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