The Junk Raft
On Sunday June 1, the raft named "Junk" left Long Beach for it?s 2100 mile voyage to Hawaii to bring attention to the plastic marine debris (nicknamed the plastic soup) accumulating in the North Pacific Gyre. The raft was designed and will be sailed by Dr. Marcus Eriksen of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, and Joel Paschal, it is constructed from 15,000 plastic bottles, an airplane fuselage, discarded fishing nets and a solar generator. The raft was towed for two and a half days to near San Nicholas Island, about 65 mile of the coast of California, so it could catch favorable winds for it's trip. The tow boat was the ORV Alguita, captained by Charlie Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, the man credited for first discovering the plastic soup in the Gyre over 12 years ago.
