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In today’s blog, ocean lover and commercial fisherwoman – Tiare Boyes – shares her experience at the World Oceans Summit. The Summit is being held from 7th to 9th March 2018 in Quintana Roo, Mexico.
“I woke up early, after arriving last night in Mexico for the Worlds Oceans Summit hosted by the Economist, to get in some exercise before the meetings this afternoon. It is a beautiful beach here at the Mayakoba but not too many laps into my swim I started to see plastic bags, bleach bottles and old plastic freezer bags drifting along the bottom. I spent the remainder of my swim collecting trash. These macro sized plastic pieces are easy to see and easy to collect but it is the micro plastics which are virtually invisible to us but accumulate in marine organisms, killing fish, cetaceans and birds which are the real problem. In light of this, how do we clean up our oceans?
I am happy to be here at the World Oceans Summit representing my family’s small fishing company. When we are out at sea fishing for Marine stewardship council certified Pacific Halibut, we fishermen (and women) see many beautiful sights. Sunsets and sunrises, porpoises and albatross but we also see marine debris. Down here in the Caribbean waters of Mexico is no different than the Pacific waters of Canada, humans have polluted our marine water ways all over the globe. As somebody who makes my living from the sea, I hope this Summit will shed light on the affects humans are having on the oceans of our world and how we can work towards making our future more sustainable and more blue.”
Written By: Tiare Boyes