Big wave surfer Garrett McNamara has launched a campaign to fight plastic pollution in the seas in an effort to “give back” to the ocean that gave him fame.
“Everything I have came from the ocean and I feel it's time to give back,” McNamara, 51, told Reuters during the launch of his anti-plastic campaign in Lisbon.
With the new initiative, he hopes to encourage world leaders and companies to reduce waste and production of plastic.
"I would like to start at the root, where it's being produced and where it's being given out," he said. "Big corporations are a perfect place to start."
While trying to enlist a total of 20 companies to make products by using recycled ocean plastic by the end of 2020, McNamara is also organizing beach cleanups, awareness events and using social media to encourage people to reduce their own plastic footprint.
Plastic pollution in Aegean Sea, Greece, June 26, 2018. /VCG Photo
Many environmental campaigners see plastic as the biggest threat to the ocean. More than eight million tons of plastic leaks into the ocean every year, costing the lives of one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals, according to the United Nations.
Originally from Massachusetts, McNamara started surfing at 11, who discovered the biggest wave in the world off Nazare, 120 kilometers north of Lisbon, and set his first record in 2011 when he rode a 78-foot (24 meters) wave.
Two years later he beat it by riding a 100-foot (30 meters) wave at same spot.
His surfing career slowed in 2016 after he fell off his board and badly fractured the humerus bone in his left arm.