NOAA boat anchors in Honolulu with
huge haul from Papahānaumokuākea

By Liza Simon / Ka Wai Ola Loa

A ship from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration returned last month to Honolulu with 40 tons of marine debris removed during a three-day mission to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Officials said this was the largest haul ever of man-made flotsam and jetsam scooped from some of the coastal waters and beaches of the islands and atolls that stretch north of Kaua'i in a 140,000 square mile expanse and comprise one of the world's largest marine protected areas.

The enormous heap of junk on deck of the NOAA vessel Oscar Elton Sette that pulled into Honolulu port on September 30 was made up of derelict fishing gear, the formal name for plastic or other non-biodegradable net and line fragments, lost or thrown overboard from boats far away from the monument, but able to float and persist intact in ocean waters for years — fouling these remotest waters, NOAA officials said.

"This latest clean-up is part of a long and painstaking effort to protect the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands," said Carey Morishige, outreach coordinator of the NOAA marine debris program. Beginning in 1996, NOAA divers began removing snagged nets and other plastic junk from the region's coral reefs and have continued to do the manual labor without mechanized tools to avoid causing harm to the vulnerable habitat, said Morishige.

"We were lucky on this expedition that calm ocean conditions helped us get in and clean out areas that haven't been accessible before," said Morishige.

Some 7,000 endemic species in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands include Hawaiian monk seals and threatened green sea turtles at risk of further population decline due to injury or death resulting from the animals tangling in the marine debris.

Morishige said that the marine debris removal activities involve researchers who have identified a long list of marine debris hazards in addition to entanglement: Invasive species appear to "hitchhike" on debris; marine animals and sea birds can become sick or die from ingesting plastic bits; a growing number of studies suggest that plastic junk emit pollutants, which work their way up the food chain into seafood products that are toxic to humans.

"Marine debris reduction is very important to conserving natural resources important to the ecosystem we depend on in the main Hawaiian Islands," said Morishige.

The Marine Debris Research, Prevention and Reduction Act passed by Congress in 2005 supports NOAA's clean-up of the monument and also authorizes the U.S. Coast Guard to better monitor commercial fishing industry compliance with long-standing state and federal laws against ocean pollution and an international treaty agreement that makes it illegal to throw non-biodegradable trash overboard from ships within the waters of signatory countries.

"But we can't just blame the problem on the industry entirely, because as individuals, we still must remember we can do something for prevention. The rule for litter on land applies to the ocean. Always recycle, reduce, re-use," said Morishige.

Sampling of trash hauls from the beaches of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands has turned up everything from plastic cigarette butts to fast-food packaging, discarded into streams, sewers and watersheds in the main Hawaiian Islands and in other more distant populated landmasses. The 'ōpala is then picked up in a rotating Pacific Ocean current. Much of the junk accumulates mid-way between California and Hawai'i in a notorious patch that has become known as a "floating landfill," said Morishige. From here, debris is pushed by the force of pressure systems in the direction of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The string of tiny land masses then becomes a comb-like receptacle for a rising tide of junk.

"Because this is an El Niño year, scientists are predicting that the effect may be magnified, so we may be seeing more marine debris not only in the monument but all the way down to the main Hawaiian Islands," said Morishige.

Marine debris clean-up is in the official plan for the Papahānaumokuākea monument, cooperatively managed to protect the region's ecosystem and Hawaiian cultural heritage. The monument's three co-trustees – the Department of Commerce, Department of the Interior and State of Hawai'i – are joined in the conservation effort by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, a member of the monument's management board and the monument's Native Hawaiian cultural working group.

In work leading up to the monument's creation in 2006, OHA and other Native Hawaiian groups collaborated in identifying the cultural significance of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. "They brought forth information from oli, oral histories and archival newspaper articles showing that the area was important for native farming, fishing and religious activities," said Nai'a Watson, strategic initiatives coordinator for the monument.

The monument received its Hawaiian name through consultation with Hawaiian elders in 2007. Papahānaumokuākea refers to the abundance and timelessness of life in this upper region of the archipelago. Once a popular destination for recreation and commercial fishing, entry into waters of Papahānaumokuākea now requires a permit. Commercial fishing activities in the monument are under a moratorium and will be phased out completely by 2012 in order to protect significant cultural and wildlife resources, NOAA officials said.

"Preventing a problem like marine debris is inherently important to Hawaiians, because we were the original stewards of these islands, long before scientists pointed out the interconnection between clean land and a healthy ocean," said Kēhaulani Watson, a member of the monument's Native Hawaiian cultural working group.

Watson (no relation to Nai'a Watson) cites traditional Hawaiian ahupua'a resource management as an example of native knowledge that pre-dated Western conservation efforts.

However, Watson says that the widespread manufacture of non-biodegradable plastics that didn't exist in traditional times and the far-flung continental sources of ocean pollution make the clean-up of marine debris a problem that requires widespread and long-term cooperation between many parties.

NOAA's Morishige said that photos and video images of trash-strewn waters in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have raised concerns about pollution in a remote and presumably pristine place and this has led to new conservation partnerships such as Hawai'i's "Nets to Energy" program. Under this collaboration of private businesses and public agencies, marine debris from NOAA ships is trucked to Covanta's H-Power plant on O'ahu's leeward coast, where it is incinerated and converted to generate electricity. Morishige said the most recent haul will be used to feed power to local homes.

Kēhaulani Watson urges Native Hawaiians to be vigilant about man-made impacts in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and advocate for better ocean policy, while also following environmentally friendly habits in daily life. She said recent events illustrate the need to uphold this two-fold kuleana. "The marine debris problem is so severe that it has driven many endangered monk seals to the main islands out of their natural habitat in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. This exemplifies just how vulnerable ocean resources are to our actions on land," she said.