Ocean Watch captain Mark Schrader (Around the Americas/David Thoreson)

A sailboat on an environmental mission is making its way to Nova Scotia.

The Ocean Watch is currently in St. John's and is expected to head to Halifax next week.

The 19.5-metre, state-of-the-art sailboat is circumnavigating the continent to raise awareness about global warming and other ocean issues, captain Mark Schrader said.

"We haven't been good stewards to that ocean," he said. "There are issues out there we're not really, at least in the U.S., we're not talking about those issues enough in school.

"So we needed to have something that made it interesting to start with to raise awareness and to translate that awareness into education and activism."

Ocean Watch is equipped to monitor the weather and water, and the data it collects will be analyzed by the University of Washington, Schrader said.

Crew members are also documenting their 13-month, 44,000-kilometre journey, dubbed Around the Americas.

The expedition is the first environmental project of its kind to look at the health of the world's oceans and the impact of global climate change on local environments and ecosystems, Schrader said.

Public tours of the vessel will be offered during its stay in Halifax. Then it's scheduled to head to Boston.

Ocean Watch left Seattle at the end of May.