Today we had great conditions, so Maks and Joe were able to pace me with the RHIB. We had few long swells but the surface of the ocean was pretty smooth. With those conditions, it was easier to spot any floating trash. Maks and Joe picked some on the way and in few instances asked me to get them if they missed.
They spotted a yellow plastic box flipped upside down. As I turned it over to drain the water out, a school of small fishes left the box. I put the box back in the water and the fish came back in. I repeated this action few times, and each time the fish went back to their shelter. We decided to leave the fish their plastic home.
A few yards away we spotted a cracked plastic bucket. When I drained the water out, again another school of the same type of fish came out of it and they also kept coming back in it each time I put the bucket back in the water. I decided to bring all the fish under the same roof, the yellow plastic box, and collected the bucket.
Everyday I am astonished at the amount of plastic with see floating and the amount I see under the surface.
Ben
7 thoughts on “[DAY 26] Finding more plastic”-
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Crazy enough to imagine let alone have actual images of a lone plastic bucket in the middle of “nowhere” being used as a shelter by fish……
Blessed be your journey!!!
Glad to read the Ocean is calm enough to proceed, and very sad to read about so much plastic contaminating the Ocean.
Last weekend was frustrating, many people in the beach, some of them left garbage that “crawled” to the water. I picked up trash so that my hands were full, and it felt like a dropletlike in the Ocean.
We will have elections in our regional council in a couple of months, and I decided to contact the candidates in order to apply high fines on people that generate trash in the beach.
Yes, it’s very sad to see so much plastic out here in the ocean. Keep going you’re doing a great job and remember every bit counts. Thank you for your support Nadav.
I agree, it is not good to find plastic in the vast Pacific Ocean, or anywhere really where it should not be found. In my country, South Africa, we do have a big problem with plastic pollution. I think we are just starting to wake up to the full extent of harm we are causing with our casual use of plastic packaging and single use items. Our beaches and I think our coastal waters are still fairly pristine (that what it seems like to me, a non-expert). I was in South East Asia at the beginning of the year, specifically in the Mekong Delta area of Vietnam. I got the impression that plastic use and waste management is a major challenge in that part of the world. I hope all countries of the world, no matter how developed they are, can start taking the necessary steps to reduce plastic consumption. I get the sense, that we are reaching a global tipping point…
Hello Nina, yes we all hope it is getting more attention and opening peoples eyes to the impacts of plastic on our environment. Thank you for your support, Ben.
Glad you had that moment with the little fish finding shelter in the bucket. Life finds ways to use what is available. That said however, I remember as a child watching from the beach on Long Island NY as large garbage skows chugged past. I asked my father where they were going and he told me they were going to dump the garbage out in the deeps where they would disappear. Back then the ocean was seen as a sort of endless place where everything would disintegrate and recycle itself but plastic doesn’t recycle and disintegrate like cloth or glass or other organic materials. Too much plastic in the ocean is threatening life there. Plastic needs to be dealt with in a very different way than organic waste. Humanity needs to find solutions that keeps plastic out of the oceans.
Hello Jacqueline, thank you for following my swim. I hope we are changing our attitudes towards the ocean, and my swim opens peoples eyes up to the pollution in the ocean. Ben