FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 9, 2007

CONTACTS:
Marti Collins, NET, 727.643.7746
Dave Bard, NET, 202.486.4426

Mom on a Mission Continues 2,000 Mile Solo Paddle Trip to Raise Awareness About Problems Facing Our Oceans

Miami2Maine creating a growing grassroots movement of ocean activists

West Palm Beach, Fla. - Today, Margo Pellegrino, a stay-at-home mother of two, set out on the third day of her 11-week solo paddling trip up the eastern seaboard in her 20 foot outrigger canoe.

Local paddlers, surfers and ocean enthusiasts joined Pellegrino at the Old Key Lime House in Lantana to celebrate her 40th birthday and cheer her on as she pushed off and continued her solo journey up to New England. She will paddle almost 2,000 miles (averaging approximately 40 miles per day) and hopes to reach Camden, Maine in late July. She will make 74 stops along the way. At many of those stops, she will discuss the threats facing our oceans today. These include, but are not limited to, overfishing, habitat destruction and aquaculture.

"The bleak future of our ocean resources cannot wait another century, decade or year," said Margo Pellegrino. "I'm doing this to open the minds and hearts of others to one of the most critical problems the entire world faces - the destruction of our oceans - and encourage them to join me in bringing about positive change. I'm so glad all the preparation is over and I am finally starting," she added.

Pellegrino is not a professional athlete, but she is an environmentally conscious mother and paddling enthusiast who is pushing her physical limits in the hopes that she can show her children how to make a difference in the world and inspire a growing grassroots movement of surfers, paddlers and other ocean enthusiasts to take a more active role in the stewardship of our oceans. Margo is being supported by a network of volunteers and ocean groups including the National Environmental Trust and the Surfrider Foundation.

Margo's journey is being tracked online at www.Miami2Maine.com using maps with her GPS coordinates and daily blogs featuring anecdotes from her journey along with pictures and video clips that she will upload remotely.

"Miami2Maine comes on the heels of several recent scientific studies that show how overfishing and mismanagement of our ocean resources have decimated our wild fish populations," said Martha Collins, Florida organizer, National Environmental Trust. "Right now, the federal government is in the process of ending overfishing. We need to make sure they do."

Miami2Maine will raise money for groups working to solve coastal environmental problems including all East Coast Surfrider Foundation Chapters, Oceana and the Mordecai Island Land Trust.

View high resolution photographs.

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