Sustainability: Preserving Our Oceans
Sustainability: using a resource so that
the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged
Sail Salem is committed to providing environmental stewardship. We have a leave no trace policy both at sea and ashore. We ask instructors, campers, families and all involved with Sail Salem to reduce waste, avoid using single-use plastics (such as bottled water), and prevent toxins from entering our marine habitats.
Sail Salem Has joined the race to restore ocean health and is
a proud member and advocate for Sailors for the Sea.
Please protect our waterways.
What Boaters Can Do to Save Whales
Will Dowd, Marblehead Current, July 31, 2024
The following is an exerpt:
This year has seen an uptick in the deaths of endangered North Atlantic right whales. One of the top threats to right whales, which traverse the East Coast of the U.S. and north to Canada, is being struck by a boat, which can cause death or injury from blunt-force trauma or propeller cuts. What we know is that speeding boats and whales don’t mix. It’s estimated that there just 356 right whales left, including 70 breeding females. That’s down from an estimated 425 just over a decade ago. A recent report released by Oceana found that most boats are violating speed limits through slow zones designed to protect these critically endangered whales.
Studies have found that limiting boat speeds to 10 knots is estimated to reduce a North Atlantic right whale’s risk of death from being killed by a boat over 65 feet by between 80% and 90%. Boaters are key to improving right whale fatalities—all it would take is for boaters to slow down so that these whales have a chance to survive.
The full article is available on the Marblehead Current Web site. Please support our local press.
Why We Need to Stop Plastic Pollution in Our Oceans
FOR GOOD | Oceana
An estimated 33 billion pounds of plastic enters the marine environment from land-based sources every year — this is roughly equivalent to dumping two garbage trucks full of plastic into the oceans every minute. Tens of thousands of individual marine animals have been observed suffering from entanglement or ingestion of plastics permeating the ocean environment. Plastics are impacting everything from zooplankton and fish to sea turtles, marine mammals and seabirds.
Plastics never go away. Instead, they break into smaller and smaller pieces. Recycling is often presented as a solution to our plastics crisis, but it falls short. Only 9% of all the plastic waste ever created has been recycled.
Uniting Boaters to Protect the Ocean
Sailors for the Sea Powered by Oceana is the world’s leading ocean conservation organization that engages, educates and activates the sailing and boating community toward restoring ocean health.
Boaters see firsthand many of the issues that our oceans face, from pollution which fouls their playground, to overfishing and habitat destruction, which threaten marine life and the source of food for billions of people around the world. Through our solution-oriented programs, we unite a core constituency of sailors and boaters, nearly 12 million strong, whose support helps to win victories to save the world’s oceans.
