In addition to our international projects, Ocean Recovery Alliance runs a number of local initiatives in Hong Kong and the Pacific Region to help educate and spread awareness of the issues that impact our Ocean, and where we can make a difference in our communities.

Some of our projects include:

• Celebrate the ocean with our new SpyHop Facewear, seen here in the South China Morning Post, designed to look cool on the streets, while you promote your care for our waters and the animals within it.  Spy-hopping is when a whale comes out of the water, with its eye just above the waterline, allowing it to see what is out there "above the water." When you wear one of our cool ocean masks, your eyes sit above the mask, so you can see your surroundings, like a whale spyhopping. Revenues from the sale of SpyHop Facewear masks goes to our work at Ocean Recovery Alliance in protecting the ocean, and reducing plastic pollution. By using reusable facemasks, you greatly reduce the amount of waste that would be created otherwise, with disposable masks, and the packages they come in.

• Skyscraper - the Bruges Whale, was introduced by Ocean Recovery Alliance to Asia in November in Singapore at the ArtScience Museum in front of the Marina Bay Sands.   Our "Have We Breached the Limit" exhibit, showcased this inspiring 11m tall whale sculpture, created by StudioKCA of New York, which was created from plastic on a remote beach on the Big Island of Hawaii, which is a known "collection point" for plastic from the North Pacific Gyre.  A short video can be seen below.  

• The Water Falling and Rising Festivals on the Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia.  We launched these events bi-annually in 2018, engaging over 8,500 local community members, fishermen, monks, students, volunteers and local government in cleanups and education to bring pride and awareness to their local waters.  This includes a full cleanup of the Siem Reap River in late 2019 with the use of our Global Alert app, and the creation of regularly monitored nets and catchment areas which helped to bring new collaboration among the different village communities along the river, all with a common goal to protect the lake.  The Tonle Sap Lake is a unique global ecosystem, as the lake rises and falls up to 6m in height (20ft) with the flooding/ebbing of the Mekong watershed, at which time, plastic from the communities gets pulled into the lake (during the "out tide"), and is brought back into the villages when the water rises, getting stuck in the trees and bushes of the canals along the way.  This impacts fishing, tourism, agriculture and local livelihoods, and we are proud to say that the momentum is expanding now to other villages and jurisdictions within the province.  An example of how Global Alert helped protect the Siem Reap River can be found here. 

• Plasticity Forum - The Plasticity Forum was first launched at the Rio+20 Earth Summit, and is globally unique in its sole focus on solutions for second-life plastic, so there is a world without the waste.  The conference has been held in 13 cities around the world, with the last event being co-hosted with the United Nations Environment (UNEP) in Bangkok (Nov. 2019), at their four-day Sea of Solutions conference.  The Plasticity Forum is a business conference which brings together all types of experts on the future of plastic, and where the leaders are going with innovation, design, materials, recycling and solutions, and previous videos, talks and presentations can be found on our Plasticity Forum website. 

• Kin Hong Seafood Festival 2017 - For the entire month of September, there will be over 100 restaurants, hotels and caterers are participating by providing certified sustainable seafood on their menus.  That means seafood that is caught or raised via aquaculture in ways that can continue for generations, and which are not damaging to the environment in the way they are brought to market.  Ask the restaurants you dine at if they know where their seafood comes from, and if it is sustainable.  If they don't know, or don't have it, just your questions will be a signal to them that the community is interested in purchasing sustainable seafood products, which can make a world of difference for the ocean! 

• Kids Ocean Day - Hong Kong's 4th event took place in Repulse Bay in November 2016, and showcased "Lap Sap Chung" (Trashzilla), who has risen from the ocean to remind people that it is still growing because of the litter and trash in our environment.  This was a reminder from the students to protect the health of our ocean.  This event includes presentations to Hong Kong schools, and a finale with a stunning aerial art image with over 1,000 children on the beach in Hong Kong.  The 2017 event will be held on November 2nd.  Please contact us if you woudl like your school to be involved, for an assembly talk, and/or at the beach on the day's event.  info@oceanrecov.org

• "Valuing Plastic - the Business Case for Measuring, Managing and Disclosing Plastic Use in the Consumer Goods Industry".  This report was a world-first, and was launched in cooperation with our Plastic Disclosure Project (PDP), Trucost and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at the U.N. Environmental Assembly in Nairobi on June 23rd.  The report identifies some of the risks and opportunities to brands associated with plastic use. It articulates the business case for measuring, managing and disclosing plastic use, underlined by the new research which identifies $75 billion of annual natural capital costs of plastic use by the consumer goods sector, with estimated yearly costs to the ocean at US$13bn. You can download the full report here. 

• Our "Educational Junk" junk trips - great educational day-out opportunities with mini-expeditions in Hong Kong waters to examine marine pollution first-hand.  This is a perfect unique trip to educate employees, colleagues, students and other groups on Hong Kong's biodiversity, threats, and ocean protection, with a focus on plastic pollution and the solutions that companies, governments and civil society can play in bringing about improvements.  We are proud to also be collaborating with the Hong Kong Maritime Museum for an optional tour of their facility before or after the educational junk trip.

• Ocean in Motion Film Festival - Hong Kong and Ocean Art Walk, has run for five years running in Asia, including Hong Kong, Thailand, and Cambodia, as well as Turkey and Portugal.  A wide variety of short and long ocean related films are shown at this event about animals, adventure, culture, humor, environment and broad awareness, and has been coupled with the Ocean Art Walk, taking place on the Stanley Waterfront. We have also created the first screenings of ocean films for the visually impaired communities, with screenings in Hong Kong and Thailand (and in the local languages).

• Our work in better understanding the Chinese White Dolphins and their precarious standing in Hong Kong.

• Our exciting bilingual 170pg book titled 'Water Margin: Hong Kong's Link to the Sea', now available in fine booksellers, through direct purchase, and through donation to all Hong Kong secondary schools.

• Oceanic Big 5 - Focused around World Ocean Day on June 8th every year, this brings together the oceans biggest sports users - surfers, sailors, swimmers, divers and paddlers, to inspire clean-ups while doing the sport they love, with one's team and community.