British Superyacht x SeaKeepers Clean-up

On June 20, 2026, The International SeaKeepers Society partnered with British Superyacht to host a coastal cleanup at Woolston Waterfront, Southampton, with support from Starboard Card, SeaKeepers’ Community Engagement Sponsor. The event took place ahead of the British Superyacht Summer Celebration and Awards and brought together 12 volunteers from across the marine industry, with representatives from Suzuki Marine, Starboard Card, and Mimo Connect demonstrating their shared commitment to protecting the local coastline. The morning began at On The Water Café with SeaKeepers leading an educational activity about marine pollution. Participants guessed how long common household items take to degrade in the ocean and created a marine debris timeline of their estimations. The results were a stark reminder of how we can easily harm ocean health, with some items taking upwards of 450 years to breakdown! During the cleanup, volunteers filled eight buckets and removed 26.1 kg of marine debris from the local coastal environment, including a tyre and almost a full outfit of clothing! Data collected through the Marine Debris Tracker app showed that they collected more than 250 plastic fragments and over 150 food wrappers – items that could easily be disposed of responsibly. However, SeaKeepers’ prize for the most unique find was awarded to a participant who found a discarded fishing rod, which they took home to repair and reuse! As a prize, they received their own SeaKeepers cleanup kit, enabling them to continue to play a positive role in practical ocean conservation in the future.

The International SeaKeepers Society organised the event to engage the yachting industry in hands-on community engagement. Every item collected was recorded through the Marine Debris Tracker app, creating valuable data to support future marine conservation efforts.. SeaKeepers would like to thank British Superyacht Starboard Card, Suzuki Marine, Mimo Connect, and everyone who took part for making the event such a success.

During cleanups, SeaKeepers utilises Marine Debris Tracker, a data collection app that allows the public to record marine plastic pollution environments in an open-source database. The app was developed by the University of Georgia’s Jambeck Research Group, who have collaborated with SeaKeepers in 2021 and 2022 on Circularity Assessment Protocols in Miami and the Florida Keys. Data collected helps inform scientific findings and effective legislation. In this cleanup, 100% of volunteers used the app to record data. SeaKeepers is excited to continue incorporating this tool in our mission of coastal education, protection, and restoration.