322: junk ship proves its point

A ship called 'Junk' - and made from it too - docked safely in Honolulu today, at the end of it's 3-month trip from California to raise awareness about plastic debris and its effect on marine life. As today's linked article from MSNBC reports, the two-man crew had constructed 'Junk' from ocean debris - part of a Cessna's fuselage, salvaged boat masts and 15,000 plastic bottles for floatation. They'd had some scary moments, running low on food and watching as some of the plastic bottles filled with water and sank after a storm, but they made it in the end. The trip was arranged by the 'Junk' project run by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. In addition to the crew, another member of the project team provided remote support and raised money and awareness. The project's key message is that single-use plastics should be banned as they generally end up in the ocean or persist elsewhere harming fish, flora and fauna. As if to prove this point, a fish caught by the crew - which they'd hoped to eat - was found to be filled with pieces of undigested plastic. I hope that 'Junk' (the raft, the project and the problem) gets the attention it deserves.