OVI was founded in 1979 by a group of international sailors, educators, and conservationists with a mission of teaching maritime arts and sciences and preserving the world’s oceans. In 2009, Project Kaisei was launched to focus on major ocean clean-up and to raise awareness regarding the global problem of marine debris/ocean trash. They conduct scientific expeditions to collect debris including ghost nets, and to sample and collect data with the aim of advancing research via analysis of marine debris for the development and testing of collection equipment. As of June 2022 they have collected over 500 000 lbs of plastic, including from the Pacific Gyre.