During the last Volvo Ocean Race, logistics provider Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL) initiated a unique water sampling project to measure the amount of organisms in the oceans.
Tonnes of ballast water housing thousands of species is carried around the world and introduced to new environments yearly. As a result, organisms transported with ballast water risk disrupting ecosystems. During the last Volvo Ocean Race, logistics provider Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL) initiated a unique water sampling project to measure the amount of organisms in the oceans. All boats were involved and collected samples every three days for testing.
The samples were examined down below with a luminometer to determine the amount of microorganisms, expressed as biomass, while cloud cover, water temperature and the GPS position of the boat were also logged. The results were then sent electronically to Stockholm for further examination by the scientists at the environmental technology company Wallenius Water. In addition, chlorophyll a has been measured via satellites and used to further evaluate the achieved sample data.
Results evaluated
The results have now been evaluated by Wallenius Water, BioThema, Oregon State University and University of Hawaii and presented in a scientific report called “A Global Mapping of Ocean Microbial Biomass”.
This report supports the Wallenius Water thesis of there being similarities in the amount of microorganism’s present out to sea compared to the coastal areas. This, in turn, supports the need of purifying the ballast water before it is shifted out to sea. The existing solution until vessels are forced to treat their ballast water is open oceans exchange which is of several reasons not a sustainable solution.
The full report can be downloaded by clicking here