A steel-hulled brigantine built in Poland in 1987, the Kaisei — which means “Sea Star” in Japanese — resembles the galleons of yore, serving for years as a sailing training vessel in Japan.
Since acquiring the ship around 2001, Ocean Voyages has taken it on three separate expeditions in 2009, 2011 & 2012 to monitor and report on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. In that vast and growing vortex of trash, located in the North Pacific Gyre between Hawaii and California, clockwise currents collect an unusually large amount of human-produced, mostly plastic, debris.
While the exact size of the loose accumulation of the garbage patch is unknown, some estimates put it as high as 617,000 square miles, about twice the size of Texas or three times the size of France. By one calculation, it would take 67 ships one year to clean up just 1% of that entire area, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
All three of the ship’s voyages to the garbage patch have been geared toward scientific sampling and data collection to identify the specific types of marine debris — including floating plastics, microplastics and ghost nets — and develop possible solutions for removing it, according to the organization.
Ocean Voyages is working with the Coast Guard and local agencies to recover the Kaisei, and has hired a team to monitor it 24 hours a day for any oil leaks, Yerkely said. The ship has about 400 gallons of diesel fuel on board, which divers will try to empty out Tuesday, he added, noting that only a minimal amount of oil has so far been known to have leaked into the water.
“We’re doing everything that can be done, and we’re on top of it,” he said. “And luckily, everybody has been so supportive and so helpful, and been able to make a tragic situation as good as possible.”
Once all environmental concerns are addressed, Yerkey added, the organization will begin figuring out how to salvage the vessel. He noted that, although unfortunate, this kind of incident is not all that unusual.
“There’s a bunch of boats that are currently sunk in the Bay Area that I guess nobody reports on,” he said. “It’s something that unfortunately happens. And it’s not through lack of diligence or whatever. Unfortunate situations happen that are outside of our control.”
While the sinking of a ship of this size is uncommon, smaller vessels in the Bay Area “sink all the time,” noted Thompson, from the Coast Guard.
“I would say that on average, the sector responds to anywhere from two to five calls a week for a vessel taking on water or a vessel sinking,” he said.
