French Research Sailboat Tara Docks in Tokyo After Completing Japan Microplastics Survey

The Tara, a French scientific research sailboat, docked at Hinode Pier in Tokyo on an overcast spring morning in April. Romain Troublé, executive director of the Tara Ocean Foundation, said the port call highlighted results from a microplastics survey along the Japanese coast and launched the Tara Coral expedition.

The expedition will examine factors affecting coral health in the Coral Triangle, spanning waters off Indonesia’s Sumatra, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea.

That region contains 76 percent of all known coral species. Scientists plan to collect samples to understand why corals there show greater resilience to climate change and to guide conservation efforts. The 36-meter vessel was acquired in 2003 by Agnès Troublé, founder of the fashion brand Agnès b.

It sleeps up to 16 people and hosts artists alongside researchers. The Tara last visited Japan eight years before the April 2026 call. In collaboration with the Japanese Association for Marine Biology, Tara Ocean Japan completed the largest microplastics study along the Japanese coast.

The project included sediment testing and produced a 2025 paper that linked higher microplastic concentrations to fishing activity and population density. Researchers found greater concentrations in sediments than in surface water. A separate Blue Carbon project, led by Hiroshima University professor Shigeki Wada, will run at least four years and involve about 20 scientists studying seaweed and seagrasses.

Sylvain Agostini, a Tara Ocean Japan director, noted that abalone fisheries in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture, collapsed from thriving to zero within a few years and that traditional ama-diving ended in Susaki, Kochi Prefecture, due to biodiversity loss. After leaving Tokyo the Tara was scheduled to call at Takamatsu, Hong Kong, Manila, Jakarta and Singapore.