A new boat, named the Mobula 8, has been launched off the coast of Bali to tackle pollution in the region. The vessel, which has been developed by Franco-Swiss businessman Yvan Bourgnon, is capable of collecting solid waste, microplastic and oil spills, and could retrieve up to 1,000 tonnes of waste each year. Bourgnon founded the NGO SeaCleaners after seeing first-hand the scale of ocean plastic pollution during a solo round-the-world voyage. The Mobula 8 boat is a pilot project, and Bourgnon hopes that thousands of similar vessels could be deployed across the world.
Indonesia, with a population of 270 million, is a major source of ocean plastic. The plastics crisis is also heavily impacting marine species and has become part of the food chain. Indonesia’s Bali island has become particularly affected: heavy rains during monsoon season wash pollution from neighbouring Java island onto Bali’s normally pristine beaches.
