Hi folks,
FSL has published our first report Regenerative Tides: Sailing for Solutions (ReTISS) : Impact assessment report, IMPETUS Citizen Science Initiative, June 2025 – January 2026 on the AquaDocs repository, under UN Ocean Decade Actions.
AquaDocs is the joint open access repository of the UNESCO/IOC International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) and the International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers (IAMSLIC) with support from the FAO Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts. It is a thematic repository covering the natural marine, coastal, estuarine /brackish and fresh water environments and includes all aspects of the science, technology, management and conservation of these environments, their organisms and resources, and the economic, sociological and legal aspects.
Abstract
Abandoned and end-of-life glass-reinforced plastic (GRP, or fiberglass) boats are an under-recognised source of marine pollution. As hulls degrade, they release microfiberglass particles into coastal waters, where they can enter food webs through filter-feeding shellfish, with potential consequences for biodiversity, coastal livelihoods and human health. Although evidence of fiberglass ingestion by marine bivalves is growing, little publicly accessible, site-specific data exists on where derelict vessels are located and in what condition, a gap often cited as a barrier to policy action.
This report assesses the scientific, social, environmental and political impacts of Regenerative Tides: Sailing for Solutions (ReTISS), a pilot citizen science initiative delivered during the IMPETUS Accelerator (June 2025 – January 2026) in Brittany (France) and the UK, with observations also contributed from Portugal. Using a structured protocol on the ArcGIS Survey123 and StoryMaps platforms, 32 citizen scientists contributed 77 georeferenced, photo-documented observations of abandoned vessels, published as an open, interactive map. In a school-based programme, students and teachers examined oyster and mussel gill tissue from the Goyen River estuary under the microscope for microplastic and fiberglass fragments, with input from a University of Brighton scientific advisor.
The pilot was exploratory and not designed to be statistically representative, but it demonstrates that citizen-generated data can inform future research, monitoring and marine waste policy discussions. Five stakeholder events reached at least 370 participants. The report also maps contributions to Sustainable Development Goals 14, 4 and 5 and closes with practical recommendations for replicating community-led monitoring of end-of-life boats.
Regenerative Tides: Sailing for Solutions (ReTISS) — UN Ocean Decade Action — is a multidisciplinary Citizen Science Initiative exploring the impact of end-of-life boats—particularly, glass-fiber-reinforced boats (GRP, FRP)—on coastal habitats and communities. Our publicly accessible 'Bad Boats' interactive map shows data collected by citizens on end-of-life, derelict, abandoned and problematic boats.
