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| Punta Chilama, also called Punta Roca. Photo by MITUR/CORSATUR. |
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| Participants at the WSL One Ocean event on June 8, 2023. The photo at right shows participants holding interceptors that will go into rivers. Photos by Juani Gayol/World Surf League.
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| You Helped Speak Up for the Ocean! |
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You helped us stop plastic pollution on rivers in El Salvador. Thank you! Last month, we joined forces with the tourism associations Oriente Salvaje and CORSATUR to make and deploy specialized shallow river barriers made up of segments called interceptors (above right). These floating devices stop plastics from entering the ocean, but let fish and fresh water through. With funding from WSL One Ocean, these barriers are being set up on rivers near surf breaks.
To celebrate this initiative and launch a national awareness campaign in El Salvador, our alliance organized an event on World Ocean Day (June 8th), which was also the eve of the pro surfing event Surf City El Salvador Pro. Thanks to your backing, professional surfers, El Salvador’s Minister of Tourism, and other representatives from our partners joined us at the renowned surf break Punta Chilama.
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Left: River barrier and river cleaners at Rio Barda (Photo by Fernando Gonzalez)
Right: Bryan Perez of El Salvador at the WSL One Ocean event prior to the commencement of the Surf City El Salvador Pro on June 8, 2023 at Punta Chilama, La Libertad, El Salvador. (Photo by Juani Gayol/World Surf League)
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At Punta Chilama, the group viewed our river barrier and saw how it is already dramatically reducing plastic pollution entering the ocean. Pro surfer Bryan Perez and other attendees also helped Salvadoran artist Armando Márquez put the finishing touches on a public mural that depicts the Punta Roca wave and shorebirds on a rocky beach with the slogan ‘Esto es Tuyo,’ which means, 'This is Yours.'
'Esto es Tuyo' is the new slogan for our WSL One Ocean-supported campaign in El Salvador. Our aim is to communicate that the ocean, its waves, and its richness are everyone’s, and it is up to each of us to make a difference with our everyday actions. The campaign is upbeat and positive, focusing on the rich beauty offered by El Salvador's rivers and lakes and the personal responsibility we all have in caring for them.
Punta Chilama's river barrier is part of an exciting multi-year project to raise public awareness and stop ocean-bound plastic at rivers that feed some of the country’s most emblematic surf breaks. Three river barriers are already stopping the flow of plastic pollution into the sea. Over the project's two-year period, we will remove over forty tons of ocean-bound plastics from rivers! We are grateful to our grantors, partners, and you for making this possible.
This project is happening thanks to grants from WSL One Ocean, and we are enacting it in partnership with Oriente Salvaje. You can read more about this event and initiative in our guest blog post at WorldSurfLeague.com.
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| "The ocean is yours and ours, and it's up to us to make a difference with our everyday actions." |
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| What are interceptors? Constructed of floating PVC tubes connected to steel frames, interceptors can stop plastic debris from passing through while allowing fresh water and fish to pass freely. Plastic pollution and other inorganic debris is then retrieved from the interceptors and sorted for recycling. The structures are moveable, enabling rapid response to changing rainfall and pollution levels. Photo by Fernando Gonzalez.
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| Thank you for saving the ocean from plastic!
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IN THE NEWS
Did you know that your favorite GPS sea turtle egg was recently the cover story for a National Geographic publication? National Geographic Kids profiled our award-winning InvestEGGator in its June/July 2023 issue! While the full article is for subscribers only, you can get a sneak peek at the issue here (or drop by our office in Ventura, California to read our copies).
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Our small California office focuses on assisting rangers, administration, and communicating with you. In June, we also hosted a public outreach festival at the beach to celebrate World Ocean Day!
This event, called World Ocean Day Ventura (WODV), was made possible with the help of many partners. Some are spotlighted below. You can check out everyone on the event website: worldoceandayventura.org.
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Zela Henderson is a dedicated volunteer who has helped with Paso Pacífico for almost a year. As a surfer, passionate nature lover, versatile creative, and budding entrepreneur, Zela is excited to be involved whenever she can.
Recently, she accompanied our director to El Salvador, where she supported work to stop plastic pollution, a project supported by the World Surf League. Upon returning to California, she jumped headfirst into helping with World Ocean Day Ventura (WODV). Zela is a charismatic communicator, and she connected us with more businesses that donated items for the raffle and silent auction. Her hand-painted ocean signs (below) supplied a gentle activist tone to the event, and she was also instrumental in promoting WODV on social media.
Zela's hard work and dedication were essential to the success of our event. We are so grateful for her help and proud to have her as a part of our team.
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| Thank you for your support! |
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PARTNERS MAKE IT POSSIBLE
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Paso Pacifico partnered with the Hokuloa Outrigger Canoe Club and the MERITO Foundation to co-organize World Ocean Day Ventura (WODV). The outreach event took place on June 10th at Harbor Cove Beach in Ventura.
On that day, the Hokuloa Outrigger Canoe Club ran the Ventura Outrigger Challenge, a competition hosting outrigger canoe racing clubs from across Southern California. This seafaring club was delighted to include an ocean celebration to complement their races. MERITO Foundation, meanwhile, joined forces with us, inviting grassroots ocean conservation groups to exhibit at the event, sharing engaging education activities with the public, and enabling a fabulous band and stage setup. We want to thank these two partner organizations.
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We would like to also extend oceans of gratitude to our Silver Event Sponsors: Port of Hueneme and California Solar Electric. Our Bronze Event Sponsors — the Ventura Port District, the U.S. Navy Seabees at the Naval Construction Training Center, and the Smart & Final Charitable Foundation — also made crucial contributions to its success. Our WODV volunteers are particularly grateful to Harbor Cove Café and Trader Joe's for providing food and drinks for them, and we also want to thank Music Freqs for cord ramps to protect our guests and augment the solar power equipment donated by California Solar Electric.
Thank you to our partners for their hard work and dedication. We are proud of the event that we created together.
All the WODV photos in this e-newsletter were donated by CoFoto Photography.
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Paso Pacífico held an extensive raffle and a silent auction at WODV. We thank the many local businesses who donated goods or gift certificates! They ranged from globally known companies like Patagonia, Betty Belts, FCD Surfboards and Jes MaHarry Jewelry. We also received gifts from small businesses like The Jolly Oyster, a sustainable seafood farm. We are so grateful for the support of the Ventura community!
In accordance with state law, we will use the funds raised to support our California-based work to safeguard the ocean. Thank you again to everyone who donated to the raffle and silent auction.
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| Thank you to all the photographers who contributed photos used in this e-newsletter. These include but are not limited to MITUR/CORSATUR, World Surf League / Gayol, Fernando Gonzalez, Ciara O'Donnell / CoFoto Photography, Hal Brindley / Travel for Wildlife, Joshua Sukoff, and Paso Pacífico staff Jarinton García, Sarah Otterstrom, and Eliza Woolley. |
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