Ocean Institute Requites San Juan Man's Love of the Sea

Frank Capolupo, of San Juan Capistrano, has loved the ocean since he was a child growing up in Pittsburgh, PA.  

Besides the fact that he grew up hours from the shore, his fondness for the sea is surprising to those who hear this sort of sentiment from someone who spent his career representing the plastics industry—a favorite for finger-waggers who point out all the negative impacts that the industry has had on the oceans.

If you met Capolupo, he’d probably tell you about his love of the sea, too. He talks about it with a lot of people. As a volunteer at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, he tells people about his passion and the importance of being good stewards of the ocean. He’s good at it, too. The Ocean Institute, at its annual awards banquet in March, named him Volunteer of the Year for 2010.

Capolupo volunteered more than 300 hours last year and plans to keep right on doing it. “This is my job, now; this is what I do,” he said. “There is just something about the ocean I just love.” 

Capolupo used to do public relations, lobbying and advocacy for the plastics industry. In 2007 he retired as western regional director of the Society of Plastics Industries Inc., the trade organization that represents plastics manufacturers and suppliers. He had worked there for 26 years.

He says his former association with that industry raises some eyebrows. “I get ‘You came from the plastics industry? What are you doing here?’ ” he said.

But Capolupo sees no conflict between his previous career and his work at the Ocean Institute. In fact, his career made him very aware of the effect plastics are having on the world’s oceans.

As western regional director of SPI, he sat on the advisory board of the Algalita Foundation as a representative of the plastics industry. The Algalita Foundation is a nonprofit marine research foundation that, in 1997, discovered the effects of plastic on the Pacific Gyre in the middle of the northern Pacific Ocean.

“People didn’t know about the Pacific Gyre until Algalita brought it to everyone’s attention,” Capolupo said. “It’s a huge massive collection of garbage.” 

The Pacific Gyre has concentrated trash and debris, predominantly plastics, which have been trapped in its spiraling current forming what is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. “It is just one big whirlpool that has been circulating collecting garbage. They say it is the size of Texas,” he said. “I just can’t fathom that.”

Figuring out ways to remove all that plastic from the ocean is one of the problems we now face. “Plastic is persistent,” he says. “It stays around for a long time.”

Part of his job at SPI was to inform consumers about the problems of plastic litter.  “If you see garbage out there, it’s not the [plastics] industry, it’s a behavior problem.  So we had to educate the consumer as to how to dispose of not just plastics, but all garbage.”

He finds direct parallels between his work in the plastics industry and his time volunteering at the Ocean Institute. “Here,” he said, “we teach watershed programs.” The programs teach kids how trash and pollution can wash with the rain to the sea. “We’re trying to educate the kids here to be better stewards of the oceans, to dispose of their garbage in a respectful manner.”

He is one of more than 400 people who donate their time to the Ocean Institute. The institute is a nonprofit educational organization offering marine and social science education programs to school-age children at its 2.4-acre facility located below the bluffs in the harbor. As many as 130,000 students participate in the institute’s programs each year, according to the institute’s website.  Programs include day camps and overnight stays, as well as cruises on the institute’s tall ships and 65-foot research vessel. 

“While we have many outstanding volunteers, Frank is truly the best of the best,” said Linda Blanchard, the institute’s volunteer director.

Capolupo has been volunteering at the Ocean Institute since January of 2009.  After he retired from the business world, he wanted to find a place where he could continue to put his skills to use.

“On one of my walks down here [at Dana Point Harbor], I just happened to stop in and started asking some questions,” he says.  “One thing led to another, and I asked them, ‘Do you have any volunteers here?’ ” It turns out there was an opening. 

Capolupo had already begun volunteering his time with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, but with his love of the ocean, he knew he wanted to work with the Ocean Institute.

At first, he thought he could juggle working for both Make-A-Wish and the Ocean Institute, but after two months he dedicated all his time to the institute.  “[The Make-A-Wish Foundation] is a great organization. It’s just that this is where my heart is."

After his first year volunteering, Capolupo was recognized by the organization for his work at the institute’s visitor information booth.  This year, it chose him volunteer of the year.

“I was very humbled and very impressed that they acknowledged my work during my short tenure here,” he said.  He didn’t expect such recognition, he said, but has simply found roles for himself in the Ocean Institute where his knowledge and experience could be of the most use. 

“I just gravitated to stuff that came natural for me to do to help them with what they are doing here,” he said. 

These days, Capolupo primarily leads the institute’s public tours.  “I take [visitors] behind the scenes and tell them who we are and what we do.  We do them twice a week.”

He is also working on special fundraising programs, the institute’s VIP tours and a community outreach program. The outreach is centered on the Wyland Clean Water Mobile Learning Center, “a bio-diesel powered, 1,000-square-foot exhibit on wheels.”  The mobile learning center is the brainchild of Laguna Beach-based sea life artist Wyland. “It is a relatively new venture,” Capolupo said. “But [the outreach] is what I enjoy doing. It’s a lot like what I used to do.”