In this video, I interviewed Luis and Enrique, two of the organisers of the Huatulco Plastic Fishing Tournament, a unique event that combines environmental awareness and fun. They shared with me their motivation, challenges, and achievements of this initiative, which aims to clean up the beaches and waters of Huatulco, a beautiful resort town in Oaxaca, Mexico. Watch the video to learn more about this fantastic project and how you can join the plastic fishing community. For more information, you can read our article Taking Action Against Plastic While Having Fun: The Huatulco Plastic Fishing Tournament
Transcript
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Adriaan Buys: Okay, Okay, I'm here with Luis and…
Luis Trejo: Yeah.
Adriaan Buys: Enrique from Mexico. So They've got a very interesting project that they started in 2021 which is to collect plastic through a competition in the ocean. And I'm based in Cape Town in South Africa. And so I'm also from the ocean a little picture you see there behind me I saw some of your pictures from your material is also of the sea turtles,…
Luis Trejo: Yeah.
Adriaan Buys: so this is a seat little being released just here in our Waters from our local Cape Town aquarium. they have a project that they do the sea turtles are so you've got some sea turtle pictures there as well. So what in our local and South Africa, we've got Beach cleanup days. So the communities get together and they go out onto the beach and then they collect rubbish and they've been it and they bag it and they call it Beach clean up days and they try and arrange it for the community. But when I saw your project, I thought this is an inspiration for people around the world to make something a little bit more exciting,…
Luis Trejo: Okay.
Adriaan Buys: so the idea of conservation mag is also to make conservation and environment a bit more exciting and create a little bit of a buzz around things, so
Adriaan Buys: Specifically your initiative to me looked very interesting and then we had a quick discussion and you must tell me if I'm speaking to fast. because I'm obviously,…
Luis Trejo: That's pretty that's perfect.
Adriaan Buys: …
Adriaan Buys: your English is very good Enrique. I think you're gonna be struggling to keep up with me. so just to give you an idea Luis has told me that he's done 800 they have done 850 kilograms of plastic that they've removed through a competition that they've now had since 2021 starting with kayaking Luis. Do you want to maybe tell me a little bit more about this competition how it starts it and everything.
Luis Trejo: Thank you.
Luis Trejo: Sir, thank this is started Enrique and elasto the two found original founders of the tournament were part of local kayak club, They went out. From time to time to the sea to fish to have fun as friends. nothing just to elaborate. That's just a Sprint. So one day they were having a pretty bad fishing day. They weren't finding anything to collect. So that sense they decided to create a competition only between them as the kayak Club the community. They weren't thinking about they were just trying to have fun, right so they decided to organize the tournament.
Luis Trejo: Just under the name of the local kayak Club, but then when they return to the beach, and of course to what will go down, they start to talk to their families to their friends and all the people were like, hey, let us participate in that too. We want to pitch in so the good thing on the thing that makes us proud about this tournament. they created the tournament but the amazing thing and was actually the support from the community. They received all of the local businesses like jump right away to between and say let's say a
Luis Trejo: How can I contribute organization of the tournament and there were 40 people for participants on the first edition of the tournament in 2021. Let's remember that we all were living like that covid pandemic back in the day. So it wasn't like the most dynamic environment…
Adriaan Buys: So I remember.
Luis Trejo: So what local right here have had in 2021 a very? strict Social interaction policy in that sense people wasn't wearing going out to the streets just for the basic necessities, So this kind of
Luis Trejo: came out of nowhere totally organic in that sense. And since I was saying this first edition was about 40 participants and about 110 kilograms out of the sea in wasted. These first edition specialized on plastic but they have I don't know this value, but I can share that with you. This is our grounding.
00:05:00
Luis Trejo: About the measured and they weighed all the ways ics in Organics Plastics glass different kind of wasted so it's not just that we get the rubbish out of the sea and out of the beaches East after that. we are sure that they wasted is processed as is need. so they want that it can be recycled or reused we provide them to different firms different companies that do that. the ways that needs just to be sent to their Final Destination just sent to our local junkyard and for that but for us, it's exciting. It's beautiful. It's just a community bank, but after that we wanted to be. Really really?
Luis Trejo: we wanted to complete the circle the cycle of the tournament just The phone and the awards something we want we want we try to make sure that this rubbish and this waste was to be processed accordingly.
Adriaan Buys: And also I think it completes the circle by communicating its internationally and again giving other people ideas and inspiration of trying to do it. So now I'm going to try and pronounce your Town's name and then I'm going to be totally getting it wrong Enrique and luis' head to Yoko had ko. Am I saying it, correct?
Luis Trejo: It's What?
Adriaan Buys: wahulco
Adriaan Buys: Huatulco what to go?
Luis Trejo: That's right. You got it.
Adriaan Buys: I've got it tell me Huatulco is this a fishing town or a tourism town as well or what type of town is as Huatulco?
Luis Trejo: You can say it's both or this is right.
Adriaan Buys: Okay.
Luis Trejo: A pretty amazing and pretty large tourists destination right here in Mexico. It's not like Cancun or Los Cabos. It's has a different perspective. It's more like chill and relax. We are 30,000 people in what will cause so it's pretty small in that sense. We have 39 beaches certain days,…
Adriaan Buys: Okay.
Luis Trejo: but we are in Pretty amazing place in the Pacific. So these Oaxaca state has all this. Paradise beaches and amazing things but
Luis Trejo: This has a curious thing going on what Google was part of the plant series back in the 19 1980s. So this series actually applying by the Mexican Government. It was developed and maintained but I trust of the Mexican Government. So we used to joke that living here is just living in we really have a pretty good life quality here, but originally it was a fisherman town. I can stand you.
Adriaan Buys: Okay,
Luis Trejo: We have pictures of that and we can share that with you would well when the town was founded.
Adriaan Buys: As it sounds like town is almost our town on the other side of the world. we also have a little bit of a tourist Hub.
Luis Trejo: Yeah.
Adriaan Buys: But what tracks people to the town is the sort of the fishing and the harbors and all of those interesting places. So he Enrique a question to you have are you now finding more fish since you've started this taking some plastic out of the ocean or is the fishing a little bit better?
Luis Trejo: La temperatura, all right. Enrique said that it hasn't changed that much. It has an impact because it's more about current and a win thing. He used to go out fishing a lot. He said that we are in of course hurricane area. It's a Pacific so
00:10:00
Luis Trejo: That thing has more to do with if you can catch or not any fish. That day was actually pretty close to a rainy season. So that's the whole reason. They didn't catch anything back in 2021.
Adriaan Buys: Or okay, okay, but every now and then you can at least get some good fish now and sometimes you get some fish.
Luis Trejo: Yeah, it can be less. you can see. Yeah, we're actually planning on efficient rate for before the year ends.
Adriaan Buys: very good
Luis Trejo: So let's see we got back.
Adriaan Buys: Yeah, tell me have you guys got a sponsors for this tournament or are there any sponsors that are getting involved from the town because I actually saw some of the photos you showed me. There was some prizes you were giving people and various things are these from the community or have you organized some sponsors?
Luis Trejo: testing
Luis Trejo: we think
Luis Trejo: those hotels let's
Luis Trejo: is econom System streaming promote same as comidas.
Luis Trejo: Don't matter here because the common light of Puerto a suretamina style participanto. Ollando restaurant. So if I don't organica cuando said that I don't tell beneficial. is today
Luis Trejo: Yes, since the first edition we have.
Luis Trejo: they start maybe the most of their
Luis Trejo: for a hotels right here All award the first place full paid weekend on frames Hotel rights for full open bar and all the amenities all the massages all the tours and everything. different restaurants will grant to person two people dinner and show people who Land different Services right here will offer to make a worse to make contributing as a staff even like, this kind of a pen. It's not that big in sense of infrastructure, but it's big in the sense that we need to be able to sit down in with us our participants and have a security talk from our
Luis Trejo: authorities or Marine authorities. We need a place for delivering the kids for us in the beach for us to have space for the participants to run and grab their kayak and put the pants and the sound system on the senior and the scenery and you name it, so there's a lot of support coming in just not only in form of money. We are being supported by a lot of people in all of different ways. Even apart from Mexico. they will send money for us to let's say shop the flats you song on some of the pictures Different things we needed uire to develop the tournament. Right? But yes in that sense. It's for us is amazing because since what will cause a really small place
Luis Trejo: A lot of people knew each other from back, so they are friends. They Collaborate in a lot of things something important. I want to know notice. Yes, this is bigger in what local This is a nice thing to happening. But I want to tell you that this is not the only thing going on. There's a lot of events happenings meetings different kind of situations where the community takes and we're into working and clean the beaches. I don't know if you have heard, but we just have a
00:15:00
Luis Trejo: Pretty disruptive hurricane right here in our neighborhood state in Guerrero more specifically in Acapulco. So this kind of things races the community rising in wakaka to contribute.
Adriaan Buys:
Luis Trejo: I can tell you that this is just a part of how the community takes care of our local environment and things
Adriaan Buys: That's fantastic. And I'm sure that the Hurricanes also create Havoc as well for creating more waste and everything. Tell me m internationally if somebody in another country or even in Mexico or somewhere wants to start a tournament like this what sort of Advice would you give them?
Luis Trejo: again muscle, Mexico
Luis Trejo: is Trejo lineup pasado say
Luis Trejo: the dial Carmen or ricariano Trejo Yeah pass in the main care link is a replica. You are asking me In different parties and said he studied superpower. Yeah, and on the first place it will be outstanding that. These can be replicated anywhere else right in that sense. We are more than open to.
Luis Trejo: Interviews to have a talk with the future organizers. We can provide our previous experience organizing this editions and we can try to provide different vendors and providers contact information. We're open to help to anybody who wants to organize this event. We're open to contribute that sense. we have actually received word of interest from people in Veracruz people in Playa del Carmen, which is Near Cancun and Chiapas. These are more sleep tourist States right here in Mexico. kind of and of course Coastal States, so for us it will be amazing that we can somehow.
Adriaan Buys: Yes.
Luis Trejo: I just tournament different parts of Mexico, but the same day it will have a huge impact of course first in the media and of course we can reach different people. I think this is actually said to be said but it's important for the kids and the junk people to be a word that is happening and did this is something that we need to take care of ourselves, right?
Adriaan Buys: fantastic, I think I just want to say from myself from Ocean lover and from also somebody living at the ocean and spending a lot of time trying to bring a cross the good things people are doing I just want to say thank you very much for your contribution. And for what you've done for the environment for the sea life, and I'm trying to talk for all those Turtles I'm saying. Thank you very much and
Luis Trejo: Here Thank you. We're really appreciate your interest and…
Adriaan Buys: Thank you very much.
Luis Trejo: your help with this topic too.
Meeting ended after 00:19:22 👋
