Cleaning products are necessary for dissolving and removing dirt, grime, allergens and germs. However, most cleaning products are not made to be directly released into our waterways. Ingredients in certain cleaners can damage fish tissues or persist in the environment and enter the food chain. Some products also contain phosphorous and nitrogen, which can put excess nutrients into the water causing algal blooms which can be harmful to coral reefs and coastal ecosystems. Instead, many cleaning products are created to go through wastewater treatment facilities, where the … Read more

The first day of spring is right around the corner and now is a good time to start thinking about springtime prep before taking your boat out of storage. Check out these 5 reminders to help keep our oceans and waterways healthy before setting sail on the first voyage of the season. Uncovering Did you … Read more

Beneath your hull is an underwater world full of beautiful, crucial ecosystems, including seagrass meadows. Generally growing in shallow coastal waterways, seagrasses are found across the globe from the tropics to the Arctic. Healthy seagrass beds have a wide range of positive impacts for our waterways. The dense underwater meadows provide spawning and nursery habitats, areas of refuge, and feeding grounds for many fish and invertebrates. Marine animals, including green sea … Read more

Sailors for the Sea’s Clean Regattas program is the world’s leading sustainability certification for all on-the-water events. Since the program’s inception in 2006, more than 2,600 events with 715,000 sailors and attendees have participated in Clean Regattas in 40 countries across the globe. Based on feedback from dedicated Clean Regattas organizers and volunteers, we have … Read more

2020 was a challenging year for events all around the world, with many regattas cancelled or postponed to future dates. New Zealand’s relatively remote location and strict lockdown guidelines set in place at the beginning of the pandemic have allowed sailing in the country to resume, just as summer began in the Southern Hemisphere. The … Read more

Once a year, an underwater blizzard with billions of colorful flakes occurs in coral reef ecosystems. This natural phenomenon is called coral spawning. Corals are essential to our oceans, but they can’t move around the seafloor to find mates. Instead hard corals reproduce by releasing their eggs and sperm into the water.  Based on cues from the lunar cycle and … Read more

This past summer Sailors for the Sea Powered by Oceana launched its volunteer Skippers program. While originally designed before the coronavirus pandemic, where we envisioned Skippers representing Sailors for the Sea both locally and at events, our initial group of eight sailing leaders adjusted their sails. They focused on engaging their communities at home by … Read more