LIHUE — Net Patrol, a program of Surfrider Foundation’s Kauai Chapter, was spotlighted at an international conference about marine debris held on Hawaii Island last week. A trio of Surfrider Kauai’s executive members traveled to Hilo for the three-day event,
LIHUE — Net Patrol, a program of Surfrider Foundation’s Kauai Chapter, was spotlighted at an international conference about marine debris held on Hawaii Island last week.
A trio of Surfrider Kauai’s executive members traveled to Hilo for the three-day event, which drew together attendees from places including the U.S. Mainland, Canada and Japan to discuss ways to prevent and clean up plastics, buoys and the like that wash up on beaches around the world.
“We believe it’s the first marine debris conference hosted by a nonprofit,” said Barbara Wiedner, Surfrider Kauai’s beach cleanup and net control coordinator. “It really made me realize how small our ocean is. Although it’s very big, we’re all connected by it.”
The symposium, held Dec. 3 to 5, was organized by Hawaii Wildlife Fund. It included two days of conferencing and ended with a cleanup day near Ka Lae, or South Point, the southernmost tip of Hawaii Island. Due to ocean currents, Ka Lae is a major marine debris accumulation area in Hawaii.
Tsunami expert Walter Dudley, a professor of oceanography and director of the Kalakaua Marine Education Center at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, was the keynote speaker.
Surfrider Kauai’s Wiedner, along with Scott McCubbins and Lori Stitt, presented about Net Patrol, Surfrider’s marine debris removal project. Net Patrol, which launched in 2007, has since grown to include more than 100 annual cleanups.
“For me, the significance was to be able to share with people who are doing similar work our story of how our programs are succeeding on this tiny island of Kauai,” Wiedner said. “But even though there’s more people going out and helping us pick all this marine debris up, it just seems to keep on coming.”
This year, volunteers have removed from Kauai beaches 33,000 pounds of net and other marine debris, including propane tanks, plastic tubs, car tires and buoys.
Much of the debris gets transported to Restore Kauai in Kapaa for storage. When there’s enough net to fill a shipping container, the material is transported to Oahu to be burned for electricity.
The next 20-foot shipping container will likely be filled and ready to ship in January or February, Wiedner said. It will be the program’s fifth container.
McCubbins, treasurer of Surfrider Kauai, said it was interesting to learn at the conference that the type of debris that washes up in places like Vancouver, Canada is similar to the wash-up on the shores of Kauai. Much of it appears to be tsunami debris, he said.
“Plastic is a human problem,” McCubbins said. “We have to learn to reduce our intake of plastics and use reusable water containers. We’re all connected by one ocean.”
Kauai residents and visitors who find large nets or other marine debris along the coast can report those items to Surfrider’s Barbara Wiedner by calling 635-2593.
Surfrider Kauai will host a series of Net Patrol cleanup events at Nukolii Beach Park in the coming days and weeks. Cleanup events will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. today, Wednesday, Dec. 16 and Wednesday, Dec. 23. Another cleanup is scheduled for 9 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 26.
