All life requires a healthy Ocean to survive. The Ocean Research Project (ORP) is dedicated to scientific exploration under sail in pursuit of the knowledge necessary to better understand human-induced stress on the Ocean. We are forging a new path of discovery by combining modern technology with age-old efficiency to create lower-cost research expeditions that provide an effective alternative to the more costly, big science paradigm. ORP’s research objectives are from close collaborations with scientists focusing on the most critical environmental issues.

Together, we design sailing expeditions to enable small, core teams of researchers to gather critical data from remote, sensitive areas worldwide. These observations allow a better understanding of the decisive factors impacting the Ocean’s health. By sharing this information broadly, we are determined to increase public awareness, especially among younger generations, and inspire change to protect the Ocean and foster a thriving marine environment.

Our decade-long initiative is designed to take action toward United National Sustainable Development Goals relative to oceanographic research. To learn more about our campaign, please check out our GO-MARIE Program.

Our History

After Matt Rutherford finished his record-making, solo circumnavigation of the Americas, he knew sailing was his passion. He was determined to find a way to use this passion to give something back to the Ocean. In 2012, Matt founded Ocean Research Project (ORP), a nonprofit organization based in Annapolis, Maryland. Since its founding, ORP has been dedicated to reversing humanity’s negative impact on the Ocean through science, exploration, and education.

During his trip around the Americas, Matt often pulled two fishing lines behind the sailboat to supplement his dwindling food supply. But he was surprised that he caught far more plastic trash with his lines than fish. After seeing how widespread plastic trash was in the Ocean, Matt decided that marine debris was the first issue ORP would take on.

Matt acquired a steel schooner, the RV Ault, for expeditions. During the Ault’s extensive refit, an experienced mariner and doctoral candidate, Nicole Trenholm, joined ORP to help develop each trip’s science and education objectives. In 2013, Matt and Nicole set off on ORP’s first expedition; they spent 70 days sailing in the Atlantic Ocean, collecting samples of plastic debris and mapping out the eastern side of the North Atlantic garbage patch. The following year, ORP extended its marine debris research to the Pacific Ocean.

Since then, ORP’s team has sailed over 25,000 miles, which is only the beginning. Today, we are working harder than ever, in close coordination with scientists worldwide, to develop new research expeditions that can be accomplished with sailing vessels anywhere in the world. The technology needed for this critical research has been refined to the point where large, expensive ships are no longer necessary for many scientific expeditions. A traditional vessel can cost as much as $25,000 a day, while a sailboat has a much smaller environmental footprint and can operate at a fraction of that cost. ORP believes sailboats will become the research vessels of the future, and its vision is to create a global network of research-ready sailing ships to support marine science.

Ultimately, the information acquired through this research must be disseminated to the public. ORP is working hard to increase public awareness by incorporating educational initiatives and citizen science programs into its mission. The educational arm of ORP is to change human behavior by providing information about the abundance of single-use plastics and their environmental effects.