David de Rothschild Reflects on Plastiki - Oceana USA
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December 15, 2010

David de Rothschild Reflects on Plastiki

Last night a few of us here in New York attended the ninth annual Green Drinks NYC Holiday Party. We chatted with some passionate conservationists at the Oceana booth, and were treated to a presentation by special guest speaker, David de Rothschild.

As you probably know, earlier this year, de Rothschild sailed from San Francisco, California to Sydney, Australia, on the Plastiki, a 60-foot catamaran made out of 12,500 reclaimed plastic bottles. He spoke to the crowd about the voyage and reflected on the problem of plastic pollution in our oceans.

But out on the Pacific he also saw the effects of overfishing. “We only managed to catch four fish the entire voyage. There’s nothing there, it’s tragic,” he said. “When you look at the Kontiki, there were vast amounts of fish on deck. We were lucky if we saw a pod of dolphins or a pod of whales. It made me realize how desperate the situation is.”

Thanks to everyone who came over to chat with us, and if you haven’t already, take a moment to sign our pledge to reduce your plastic use.

I tried to shoot some video of the event, but the lighting and sound were terrible, so I’ll leave you with this video of de Rothschild discussing the Plastiki: