A team of 16 free divers from the Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project recently removed approximately 106,000 pounds of marine debris from the reefs and beaches of the islands and atolls within the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, aboard the supply vessel Imua. and returned to Honolulu’s Kewalo Basin Harbor.
The 583,000 square miles area around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is the world’s second largest wildlife sanctuary and contains 3.5 million acres of coral reefs. As one of the last wild places, it is home to an abundance of seabirds, fish, and endangered flora and fauna that are inaccessible to most people except for a few volunteers and scientists.
The team collected over 96,000 pounds of ghost nets and over 9,000 pounds of marine plastic litter from the reefs and shorelines of Kapow (Lisianski Islands), Manawai (Pearl and Hermes Atolls), Kuaihelani (Midway Atolls) and Horanik (Kure Atolls). collected.
The last major cleanup in July focused on the Kamokuokamohoaliii, Kamore and Kapou reefs and collected nearly 100,000 pounds of marine debris, bringing the cumulative total of debris removed this year to 202,950 pounds. All in all, £500,000. Since they started a major cleanup two years ago.
One of the most memorable days of the 30 days that PMDP Founder and President Kevin O’Brien and his team spent aboard the 185-foot Imua in the remote Hawaiian Islands was when the team was caught in a ghost net. I was able to free two entangled turtles.
“Every time I see something like this, it makes me think that the number of these incidents that we don’t see must be 100 or 1,000 times higher than we actually see.” It’s a cool realization.”
Loads of ghost nets collected from remote reefs in Manawai (Pearl and
Hermes Lief) by one of PMDP’s specially trained freediving teams. By: Andrew Sullivan-Haskins/2022
O’Brien said the PMDP team trained vigorously for two months before conducting the first large-scale decontamination in July. She turned 20 while the youngest member was on the trip. I took a combination of
An estimated 114,000 pounds of marine debris accumulate on the reefs of Papahanaumokuakea each year, but access is restricted within 200 miles of its borders without a permit. This was the first year of his five-year strategic plan for the PMDP to tackle this issue.
“Every time I go out there, it’s an adventure,” said O’Brien.
