Seabin Foundation launches a first-of-its-kind Ocean Health Lab

On October 6th 2022, Seabin Foundation launched a world-first-of-its-kind Ocean Health Lab, hosted at its new home, the Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia.

The three-day launch event was a great success, celebrated with all key funding bodies representatives, collaborators, Seabin^TM sponsors, partners and the wider Seabin community. We held demo data sessions, hosted tours of the Ocean Health Lab and presented on the 360-degree dual operations of Seabin Foundation and the Seabin™ City Program in the Sydney Harbour. the City Program is part of Seabin^{TM ‘}Smarter Cities, Cleaners Oceans’ campaign, and aims to to replicate the model in 100 Cities by 2050. The Ocean Health Lab is housed in a custom-built repurposed shipping container, dedicated to storing, drying, triaging, and counting all marine litter captured from the 30+ Seabins in Sydney Harbour.

The Ocean Health Lab (OHL) took a year of work from the ideation phase to the completion of the building process and delivery to a private site in June 2022. The process was delivered by Solomon Wadani’s (Data and Program Manager) and Mahi Paquette’s (CEO). Our two cherished marine scientists, Karli Mylius (M.Sc.) and Tahlia Devine (M.Sc.), then joined the Seabin Foundation team to refine the data collection protocols and overall methodologies. Between June and September, scientifically sound subsampling processes were trialed to obtain a reliable representation of micro-, meso-, and macroplastics within Seabin catches. In October, the OHL was transferred to its new home, the Maritime Museum, ready to open its doors to the public.

The Ocean Health Lab will enable Seabin to accurately attain critical baseline data to research the extent of the marine plastic pollution problem. The primary aim of the lab is to deepen our understanding and address knowledge gaps of inshore microplastics abundant within Sydney Harbour and serve as a pilot to assist Seabin in rolling out data labs globally, in cities where Seabin™ operates.

Thank you to all who attended the launch! Stay tuned via our @seabin.foundation Instagram page and blog posts for more updates about the exciting upcoming opportunities for visitors, students, research, and more!

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