Manta rays are beautiful and majestic animals that have a life-changing effect on people who meet them. I want to protect them so humans can experience their transformational power for generations to come! My goal is to inspire people so they take action to protect the mantas' ecosystem and oceans all around the world.
110 million pounds of trash out of the water
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My last email wasn't the most cheerful one, with all the hurricanes sweeping through Hawaiʻi. So today, I'm happy to bring you some positive news! 😊 The Ocean Cleanup (TOC) is one of my favorite non-profit organizations: they come up with clever ways to remove plastic pollution from the ocean. In March, TOC reached a major milestone: 50 million kilograms of trash (that's about 110 million pounds) pulled out of oceans and rivers. In December 2024, the figure stood at 20 million. That's a lot of ground (or rather, water) covered in fifteen months! Also in March, they were awarded $121 million to expand their 30 Cities Program: they're installing their plastic "Interceptor" system in 30 cities in Asia and the Americas. These Interceptors are designed to fish plastic out of rivers before it reaches the sea. By 2030, TOC aims to stop up to a third of the world's river plastic from making it that far. Nine cities have already been selected, including Mumbai, Panama City, and Manila. By intercepting plastic directly in rivers (rather than cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch), they're catching it before it becomes a bigger problem. Once it reaches open water, plastic breaks apart, spreading out and working its way into the food chain - where it's impossible to retrieve. Mantas are filter feeders, so they swim with their mouths open and take in whatever is drifting around them along with the plankton. In one study, researchers watching mantas feed in polluted water counted up to 63 pieces of plastic swallowed in a single hour! A while back, I wrote about how plastic pollution affects manta rays - read it here. I'm so grateful that organizations like The Ocean Cleanup exist. It's slow, difficult work, but they're doing so much good, both above and below the surface!
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Martina Wing
Manta rays are beautiful and majestic animals that have a life-changing effect on people who meet them. I want to protect them so humans can experience their transformational power for generations to come! My goal is to inspire people so they take action to protect the mantas' ecosystem and oceans all around the world.
Aloha Reader, It's been a while since my last newsletter. Since then, quite a bit has happened here in Hawaiʻi. Many of you met me and the team in person, and we know some of you keep an eye on the islands from a distance and worry when storms roll through. On August 15, Hurricane Lala skirted the southern tip of the Big Island and brought an incredible amount of rain to Kaʻū, the southernmost district on the island. Certain areas got more than 4 inches of rain in a single hour – turning...
Aloha Reader, It's been a busy winter season for us - while we haven't been in the water with the mantas much due to high surf and winter conditions, I wrapped up the first season of the Ocean Wings podcast. I thoroughly enjoy the long-form conversation, so I spent the rest of winter break working on another podcast I'll be hosting with my friend Tina Marie. That one has nothing to do with manta rays (or maybe it does 🙃). We recently soft-launched. 2025 statistics Back to the manta rays: we...
Aloha Reader, It's hard to believe, but we've wrapped Season 1 of Ocean Wings. Twelve episodes, twelve incredible guests, and so many moments that reminded me why I wanted to start this podcast in the first place - to share stories that inspire me and will no doubt inspire others. If you've been following along from the start, thank you. If you missed a few episodes along the way, now's the perfect time to catch up before we head into Season 2 (we're hoping to start recording in May). A few...