The ocean lost one of its champions recently with the death Mike Boudreaux. Mike became famous in local water quality circles for the creation of the Boudreaux boom. After spending a day carting numerous bags of trash out of the Upper Newport Bay Mike said, “There has to be a better way,” and he came up with a debris boom that would trap trash in the creeks before it could get to the bay. He went to the county and sold them on his idea, and they put the first one in the Delhi channel. It worked so well, that the county has put them along the Santa Ana River and in other areas, and it’s made a huge difference in the amount of trash reaching these sensitive areas. An active member of the Newport Beach chapter, Mike was instrumental in launching 50 in 5, a program to reduce pollution at the mouth of the Santa Ana River which has been adopted by the City of Costa Mesa. He also helped the chapter publicize various water quality messages by donating a billboard at the site of his business to the chapter for three years. Mike was killed in a motorcycle accident.