Mercury Marine: DEEP Balloon Challenge Aims to Clean Up Waterways

Go DEEP or Go Home

Many of us have heard the stories about the hazards that things like Mylar balloons present to marine life. Now the DEEP Balloon challenge seeks to fight back against the forces of errant birthday balloons (and other plastic products) in our waterways.

Not only will Mylar – and other similar plastic sheeting products used to make long-lasting balloons – take decades to break down even when properly disposed of, but also because balloons are often inadvertently released into the air during or after the party. After a time, these once-festive decorations fall back to earth and become environmental hazards. Many end up in our lakes, rivers and oceans where they have been known to float for months or years, often trailing ribbons or string behind them.

Nowhere is the problem more evident than in our nearshore and offshore waters, where they can get tangled up or even consumed by marine animals who mistake the debris for a food source. Fortunately, the people who work or spend their free time on the water have taken notice. More importantly, some of them are really doing something about it in the form of awareness and cleanup efforts such as the DEEP Balloon Challenge.

Rhode Island-based DEEP Apparel is a clothing line designed for the outdoor enthusiast. Its clothes are stylish, durable and functional, and the brand has carved out a nice niche in the market since its humble beginnings in 2010. But founders Mike Croteau and Matt Smalley are more than just entrepreneurs. They’re passionate anglers and outdoorsmen with an unwavering commitment to caring for the environment that plays host to their and their customers’ passion for fishing and other outdoors activities. The short version of how they started their campaign is that they simply got tired of seeing balloons floating around every time they hit the water.

According to Smalley, the initial awareness of this problem was brought to the forefront by late Rhode Island lobster boat operator, Capt. Norbert Stamps. His legacy is one of protecting the environment while advocating for properly regulated fisheries along the east coast. He brought political awareness to this issue and saw the balloon epidemic as the single biggest pollution issue in the Northeast.

“DEEP Apparel stood on the shoulders of Norbert’s movement,” Smalley said. “It just kind of came to me one day when we were out. It typically happens more in the spring where we are in the Northeast, probably because of graduations and things like that, and that’s also when I start spending more time on the water. Anyway, you go 5 to 100 miles offshore and it’s remarkable how many Mylar balloons you pass.

“As I spent more time on the water and retrieved more and more balloons, I realized that we could create a unique way to get more people on board with doing the right thing, and also incentivize them for it.”

And thus the DEEP Balloon Challenge was born. The task and rules are simple: Every time you see a balloon on the water, stop and pick it up. Then take a photo of yourself with the balloon and post it to Instagram with the hashtag #deepballoonchallenge. Whoever recovers and properly documents the most balloons in a calendar year wins the grand prize, a premium gift package with apparel and goodies from DEEP and other brands that have signed on to support the cause.

“We’d love to think that everybody would just do this organically,” Smalley said. “But we’re realistic, and rewarding people for doing good deeds will definitely encourage the right behavior. This is just us trying to do the right thing and recognizing that there are a lot of people out there who would be a part of the eco movement if we could just get them engaged.

“Luckily, we had the follow through from our social media following, and we made it easy for them to share their posts, and for us to share them from those platforms. We ended up unable to keep up with the notifications coming through social media, and we still can’t. That tells me there’s something there and we’re very happy to keep it going.”

DEEP has more than 41,000 followers on Instagram alone. 2021 marked the first year of the challenge and because two individuals have stood out from the rest of the field, we’ve awarded two sets of grand prizes. Capt. Damon Burden of Pythias Sportfishing, South Yarmouth, Massachusetts, and Capt. Chris Spies of Holbrook, New York, brought in hundreds of balloons between them, and were each rewarded with a prize package worth more than $2,000, which included DEEP gear, Costa Del Mar sunglasses, and goodies from Guy Cotton, Grizzly Coolers, ChatterLures and Gibbs Lures. Read the full story on the Mercury Marine website.