An all-female crew is to sail around Britain to highlight the problem of ocean litter.
They include scientists, students, artists, filmmakers, businesswomen, psychologists and environmentalists, as well as experienced sailors.
The women will leave Plymouth on August 8 to circumnavigate Britain, returning to the Devon city on September 5 to underline the impact of single-use plastics.
The Round Britain sail will take 30 days and incorporate environmental events in Plymouth, Cardiff, Belfast, Arran, Stornaway, Edinburgh and London.
The voyage is run by eXXpedition, a company specialising in all-women sailing trips.
eXXpedition co-founder Emily Penn said: "After years of studying ocean plastics all over the globe, I am so excited to be bringing this project home to the UK.
"The more time I spend at sea, the more I realise that the solutions start on land.
"We may be seeing the more obvious impact of plastic and toxic pollution in the more remote parts of our planet, but what is clear is that the pollution is coming from land - the UK included.
"We need to expose these issues and raise consciousness of the work to be done to solve them here in the UK."
They will be circumnavigating Britain in the 72ft challenge yacht Sea Dragon.
Professor Richard Thompson, an expert in marine litter at the University of Plymouth, said: "The Government's inquiry into microplastics last year brought the threats posed by marine litter to wider public attention.
"But there is still a great deal of work needed to understand the full scale of the problem, while identifying potential solutions that take both economic and environmental factors into account.
"We are currently involved in research and collaborations that seek to meet those goals, and this scientific voyage can certainly make a positive contribution to that work."
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