NOAA Teams End Hawaiian Island Cleanup

DAVID BRISCOE / AP 22nov02

Project to clear debris from N. Hawaiian Islands done, but tons of trash remain

HONOLULU - Divers completed collection of 60 tons of nets and other debris Tuesday from around the uninhabited northern Hawaiian Islands, but government scientists say up to 100 tons still remain to destroy coral and entangle rare monk seals, turtles and other ocean wildlife.

Crews on four ships spent three months under sometimes risky conditions collecting derelict fishing gear and junk left behind by boats plying the Pacific. The tiny islands and coral reefs that extend across hundreds of miles to Kure Atoll catch the debris carried by ocean currents.

Divers for the National Marine Fisheries Service
are shown earlier this month hauling in some of
the 60 tons of netting and other debris found
in the waters off the uninhabited
northern Hawaiian Islands.
Photo: National Marine Fisheries Service

Several government agencies and private organizations, with more than two dozen scientists and researchers, were involved in the $3 million cleanup led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

One vessel, NOAA research ship Townsend Cromwell, returned to Honolulu on Tuesday with nine scientists. The three other ships were expected to return before the end of the month, said Wende Goo, education and outreach coordinator for the National Marine Fisheries Services' Honolulu laboratory. The agency is part of NOAA.

"Divers spent many, many hours actually cutting away, piece by piece, netting entangled on coral," Goo said. "A lot of the debris is very harmful to the coral."

One crew rescued a Hawaiian green sea turtle, a threatened species, near French Frigate Shoals, Goo said. "They were able to release it alive and unharmed," she said.

Monk seals, birds and other creatures could also be harmed by the debris, Goo said. Some items may be ingested and others could trap the sea creatures.

The piles of debris, to be sent to a recycler, include miles of nets and fishing line, plastic containers, fishing floats, burnt-out light sticks, hooks, cigarette lighters, and such domestic items as laundry baskets, slippers, light bulbs and clothes hangers.

Fishermen don't intentionally dump nets and lines into the sea, but they often cut nets that become entangled, or items are washed overboard during rough seas, Goo said.

The operation can be dangerous. Goo said there were encounters with sharks and one crew member was thrown overboard from an inflatable boat. No one was injured.

The northwestern Hawaiian Islands are generally off-limits to boaters, with permits required from NOAA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state of Hawaii for people to land on any of the islands.

For the cleanup, vessels were stationed at Kure Atoll and Pearl Hermes Reef, with a third ship, the American Islander, making stops at both places every couple of weeks to pick up debris as the operation continued.

Scientists at the Honolulu laboratory are examining the debris to track its origins. U.S. agencies plan to work with other countries to help educate fishermen and others on responsible use of the oceans.

The goal is to clean up all the debris from the region. More than 118 tons has been collected since a cleanup operation was first organized in 1998.

Scientists say the 100 tons that remain still pose a serious danger, especially to curious Hawaiian monk seal pups who often drown after they become entangled in fishing nets.