The Ocean Tells the Story I Bali Day 7

Welcome back to 4ocean. My name is Alex and we employ captains and crews to clean plastic out of the ocean. Today is going to be a sick day. Today we are heading out on 4ocean Indonesian Jukung vessels. These are our offshore vessels that we use to collect plastic out of the ocean. I'm here right now on the bay and behind me you can see all of the traditional Indonesian vessels. This is a really really cool spot and I'm fired up today because we're going to get out there with our captains and crew and we're going to head offshore to find some plastic. This is a big big day for me. Grew up on the water, became a licensed captain at a young age. I'm really really excited to see that. So we've got the whole 4ocean staff here. Everybody is ready to rock and roll. We've got the whole team. So it's going to be a sick day. Let me show you one of our vessels right here. Right down here behind me is the 4ocean cleanup vessel. So this is kind of that catamaran type style. This is a really cool vessel. I'm stoked to actually show you guys. Let's go down there and take a look at it. And let me give you guys a quick little tour. First things first, up here in the front the team has built a really cool design. So they were seeing large stretches of plastic, like long lines of plastic. So what they devised, they put two outrigger systems, a net and then a lead line up on the front of it. And now this entire unit can be raised and lowered and what happens is that net goes down and the plastic goes to the center of the boat and then right here in the middle they can flip that plastic into each side. So that way they're able to collect large amounts of plastic just by literally driving as well as use our nets on the side of the boat to collect plastic and put it into the boat. We've got a nice little shade awning system, retractable shade. Like I said, it's a catamaran so this is open in the middle where that plastic, this net, you know can slide back and and be collected. These are our standard circle you know nets with the stainless t handles that you're seeing that we're using on the side. Man, we got some freshies on this boat. Okay, same block style engine but we got some Yammer diesels. And so this is that block engine that's mounted to the side of the boat, the driveshaft here, single individual prop. Back here we have the rudder that's used for steering, another little back shade awning. Of course we've got our life jackets, all of our gear, look at this, they even got them branded. That looks awesome. Oh my gosh, look at that, I didn't even realize that. Look at this, second Yanmar diesel. Are these light? We've got literally lights on the front. Yeah, so that's awesome. Some Yanmar diesels ready to rock and roll, got the driveshaft. You can fit a lot of people in this vessel. Our ocean team's average, they'll be jumping around. How much plastic do you think that we're collecting per day on the boats? 2,000 pounds? Okay, and that's that is during rainy season. 10,000 pounds? Yes. No. Yes. What? 10,000 pounds during rainy season? Yeah. In this boat? Yeah. Four boats. Four boats. Four boats. Four boats. What? Oh my gosh, per day? Per day. Per day. 2,000 pounds during the small season between four boats, but 10,000 pounds a day with all of our other boats. Absolute madness. But I'm excited, this is going to be a great day. We're going to show you guys exactly what we do out here, how this vessel cleans plastic from the ocean and show you some of the processes. All right, we'll see you. Look at this little boat. That's a speedboat, huh? Oh boy, we're firing up the old diesels. You know what they say, got to kick the tires and light the fires, baby. Let's get her out there. If it's going to go wrong, it's going to go wrong out there. Man, this is so sick. So all of our vessels around the four ocean, the entire fleet, non-rainy season will collect about 2,000 pounds of plastic a day. And during rainy season, they'll collect 10,000 pounds a day. It's wild to think about the amount of plastic that's offshore, that's in these areas. And especially during rainy season, rainy season, it gets super heavy. And that's when there's unbelievable amounts of plastic offshore. These, these are awesome looking skiffs. I used to have skiffs. We've got two more four ocean vessels over here. It's our other two. Cubic, most of these vessels are for fishing? Sardines? All right, so a lot of these are sardine vessels. So they're catching sardines. We're catching plastic. Oh baby, there's the old four ocean fleet. Let's go. You got unit one, unit three. So we have the entire team on this boat and what we're going to do is we're going to transfer the captains onto each of the vessels. So then we're going to have three boats today. This is a regular, yeah, that's something that always happens. We get plastic around the prop that limits the ability to propel the boat. You got to redo. No need for batteries out here, baby. You're self-sufficient. Yeah, one gnarly thing about these engines is there's no idle. As soon as you fire it up, that prop is spinning. But they use two of these motors and that's how we're driving. Literally like a twin prop system. On the port starboard side, they'll just pick one up, drop the other, and that's how they're literally steering the boat. That coupled with the rudder, but for sharp movements, wild. What do you say, my man? You ready to go? Yeah, I'm ready to go. Ready to go clean some plastic? Yes, sir. All right, let's do it. And so these are for sardines? Yeah, sardines. Sardines for sure. What bay is this? This is Pagambangan. Pagambangan? P-A-G-A-M-B-A-N-G-A-N. Pagambangan. Pagambangan. Pagambangan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, all right. Pagambangan. This is Pagambangan Bay. Yeah. All right, something like that. Something like that. This is the bay. And so we're going to be heading out the inlet here. This is the inlet to the little bay. This is the protected area. But this is where you have all the fishermen and this is where a lot of sardine fishermen are. So a lot of these boats are used to collect sardines. So there's a lot of fish canning sites, omega-3 fatty acid operations. A lot of that is what happens here in Indonesia. So this was easy for us to hire captains that had experience already operating on these waters, already operating on the ocean, and really understanding what they need to do to collect plastic. So using nets, using the same tactics that they use to collect sardines, they're now using to collect plastic. I got the smell of the open sea, baby. Hope you guys brought some food. It's a long way back to the United States. All right, baby. We're cruising. We've got the four-ocean fleet. We're heading offshore. So what we're going to do right now is we're going to head and scout for some plastic. So we're going to be heading into the ocean. We look for weed lines. Weed lines are an accumulation of plastic, weed lines, all sorts of stuff where the wind is pushing against the tide and the current. And what happens is you have basically an accumulation of debris. So that's what our captains and crews typically find. A lot of their plastic is in these weed lines, these offshore areas. We've got a nice little fleet here. The four-ocean navy, baby. Introducing. Let's go. Super, super sick. Okay. All right. I'm going to fire up the old Yanmar diesel. Here we go. Ready? All right. We're on the board. We're on the board. Let's go. So we just got the Mylar balloon. Goes to show that it's not only an issue in the States, but it's also an issue here in Indonesia. Try and avoid balloons. I know they're great for celebrating, but a lot of people don't realize that when they do get released, because a lot of the times on accident they do get released, they go up in the air and they end up in the ocean. So try and avoid balloons if you can. And if you do use them, maybe don't use helium because helium is what's bringing them up in the air and bringing them ultimately into the ocean. So you've got to cut down on these things. Right now we're just cruising, cruising the open ocean. And it's very comparable to like offshore fishing. What we're doing is we're cruising around. You never know every day. So plastic will be brought to different areas, the wind, the tides, it's moving and shifting every single day. And so what we're doing is we're covering large areas and we're trying to find that plastic that's out here. You'll eventually start coming along small pieces and then it'll start to be really concentrated. So it's very comparable to like offshore fishing where you're just looking for, you know, these weed lines or any type of debris, just anything floating. So during the rainy season is when our crews typically find crazy amounts of plastic. They're literally collecting about 10,000 pounds a day on these skips alone. You know, during the dry season, it's about 2,000 pounds between all of our skips. So it's a considerable amount of plastic that we're able to collect. But the thing is, you've got to find it first. So we're just cruising around looking for this plastic, see if we can find it and then we'll start cleaning up. There we go. Let the dogs breathe. It felt weird wearing water shoes on the boat. That feels right. We're starting to get into a little bit more of a polluted area. There's all sorts of bits and pieces, like smaller pieces of plastic. I don't know if you can see them in the water behind me, but this is a good sign we're finding plastic. We're starting to get into the areas where the currents are ripping. If you see over here, you can see the current is ripping over there on the horizon about 200 yards away. You know, a lot of this plastic is transported from these islands and it's just, it's out here floating and getting pushed around. So we're going to keep moving. We're starting to get into a little bit of a dirtier area. Oh, here we go. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. So you can see a little rip here. More plastic. Yes, sir. So you can see the nasty little stuff floating, but that just shows, that's what's known as a rip, you know, a current. Basically an area where the currents are coming together and a lot of debris will accumulate at that point. So there's standing, kind of standing waves over here where the current's really moving fast and you can just see there's like foam and dirt, but you'll start to see some of these plastic pieces. We're getting closer. We're here, baby. Is that a turtle? Oh, there you go. They got the squid. Fired up on the squid. Yeah. Cubic, should we drop the, uh, drop the net? Yeah. Okay. Not enough. Okay. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. All right. Here comes a strip. This could be, yeah, yeah, yeah. Here we go. Turtle? Yeah. Floating? Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Turtle. Look at this turtle in the weeds. Oh, he's dead. Oh, man. Is he dead? Is he dead? Yeah. Oh, man. What do you think? Damn. It's super gnarly. You know, it fell in the boat full of plastic and then we saw something floating and then when he came up to it, we didn't know if it was a live turtle or what, but this is actually a dead turtle. This is a dead green sea turtle and it's heavy. You know, he was literally floating in the entire line of ocean plastic, like a ton of plastic we were collecting and this is just a reminder right here. You know, a lot of turtles are ingesting plastic. They see these bags right here and this looks a lot like a jellyfish. So, a lot of their diet is jellyfish. So, plastic bags look like that. So, they ingest them, they end up choking, they end up dying, they can't digest these plastic bags and we don't know if this one did die from plastic, but it's a high, highly, highly likelihood because he's literally floating in all this plastic debris. So, that's why we try and remind everybody, choose sustainable alternatives, cut down on those plastic bags because it's ending up in the ocean and it's harming wildlife and we've got to put an end to it. Sometimes they're fortunate enough to come up on an animal that is dealing with plastic and they're able to intervene, right? So, we've literally come up on a dolphin, entangled in nets. We've come up on turtles that have been trapped in nets. We got a turtle that was in a mattress the other day. Unfortunately, this guy, being here firsthand is crazy seeing it, but unfortunately this guy, our team did not get to it in time and this turtle has either ingested plastic or died for other reasons, but he was floating an entire weed line of plastic that we collected and a reminder why we've got to cut down on the amount of plastic that we're consuming because it's ending up in the ocean. Sea turtles, one of their main diets is LBPE bags. I'm sorry, jellyfish and LBPE bags look like jellyfish. So, this in the water really resembles a jellyfish. So, these turtles are eating this material, eating this plastic and it's killing them. So, this is a crazy reminder. It's wild to be here firsthand to see this and we hope that everybody can see these as reminders and cut down on that amount of plastic we're consuming because this is the outcome. We're seeing little turtles die like this and nobody wants to see these little dudes hurting like that consuming plastic. So, not only do you find plastic, but also just straight up bags of trash. Crazy. That's super heavy. Now, see, we've seen our Bali crews intervene with a lot of different animals. Dolphins, a lot of turtles that they see affected by ocean plastic, unfortunately. The impact of the plastic is getting back in? Yeah. Does that happen sometimes? Yeah, sometimes it happens, yeah, but not often. Yeah, mostly we find more price almost every single day. Yeah. Yeah, just all about the winter. Winter is now, right? Yeah, winter is now, yeah. But it was a great day. Check out these rigs. Look at the props on these things. That's insane. Sardines. Yeah. Sardines. Yeah. So, these are for sardines. Such a crazy style. Engine, vessel, little hut up top for body change. Wow. So, what is the purpose of the pipe that goes back to the prop? The pipe that goes back and around? Got it. So, you put water in it? Circulation. So, the water cools down the engine? Yeah. Radiator stays in the engine, yeah. Ah, but other versions, you water it? Yeah. Got it. The smaller four ocean boats end up staying on anchor and now we've got the whole crew on here. So, now we got a full loaded boat. So, the smaller ones will sit on anchor out here and then the larger catamaran heads over to our spot anchored on the seawall. And per usual, you can see up on the cliff here, they've got lunch all set up. We can eat lunch with the whole team. Dude, it's still full. Still full. Ah, ----. And we didn't put any fuel in it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because the captain said we go slow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Going slow, very efficient. I'm just, I can't believe we didn't put any fuel in it today. Yeah. None since we were on the ocean. Since I've been on this boat, no fuel is put in, right? No, yeah. Wow. We get a lot of questions about the motors that we use to clean plastic out of the ocean and we do get some concerns that they're combustible engines, but I want to talk about this for a quick second. So, behind me is the engines that we're using for our vessels in Indonesia. This is a giant diesel engine, right? And you think that it's just an absolute fuel hog, just terrible for the environment, but I just realized something that was insane. I asked them, we hadn't put any fuel on these all day. Small little internal tank on the top and we didn't refuel at one time after going out there that entire day of cleaning plastic from the ocean. And I just realized, asked them how big the fuel tank is. It's two and a half liters for each of these. So, we just went out clean all day and all we burned between both of these engines was 1.3 gallons of fuel. That's insane to me. When you think about the amount of fuel that other engines use, it makes so much sense now why every single one of these vessels has a comparable engine. It's because it's very efficient. It sips fuel. It's a diesel engine that's only taking a little bit and there's not the necessary infrastructure here to put electric outboards and all that type of equipment. You have to keep it simple when you're cleaning plastic from the ocean and you want to keep it as easily maintainable as possible and also as efficient and affordable as possible. So, that's just a mind-blowing fact to me that that these engines are only taking 1.3 gallons of fuel after running it all day. It's insane. We didn't go very fast, but it gets the job done and it cleans the ocean. That's awesome. So, that was a day on the water with the 4ocean Ocean Cleanup Crew. Hey, what's up y'all? How are you guys doing? We're good. Getting rehydrated. Having some fruits, some coconuts. What's the spread, Dom? What do we got? Chicken, some tofu, noodles, local fish. Incredible. And of course, a big thing of rice. It was a delicious meal. Local Indonesian food, spending time with the team. We got to head out on the 4ocean vessel. It was a good day. We didn't find that much plastic. I know the team was pretty bummed about that. They really wanted to show us a lot of plastic and they're asking why we came here during the rainy season or why we didn't come here during the rainy season. And I told them because my wife and I are having a son. We're having a baby in October. So, I'm already pushing it right now being out here in July and August. It was a good day. We got to see everything that they were doing. We're going to head to another location tonight and then we're going to be doing more cleanups with our teams out there. So, I appreciate you guys following along, seeing what our cleanups are like. Next time, we'll show you a little bit more plastic, a little bit more stuff cleaned up. If you're liking the stuff, please comment, like, subscribe, do all that fun stuff and show us some love because you're showing our captains and crew love and that's the important thing. Thank you guys so much. Really appreciate it and we'll see you on the next one. We're not going to stop until the ocean is clean. Cheers.