When out enjoying any beach on Kaua‘i, it can be rewarding to go on a treasure hunt looking for marine debris that has collected along the shoreline.
With a team of volunteers with Net Patrols of the Kaua‘i Surfrider group, I hiked to Moloa‘a Beach on Wednesday and collected trash on the beach. It was a beautiful day, and while the hike down to the beach was steep and rocky, it was well worth all the foot work and navigating involved to get the job done. The volunteers were in the same spirit, wanting to take in the ocean’s beauty and the island’s, but also making sure they were doing their part to contribute to the betterment of the environment.
Krista Brodie lives in Princeville and volunteers with the Surfrider group often.
“To do my little part in the world. I want to be a person of action instead of just complaining about trash on the beach,” Brodie said. “If every single person and every single visitor here came to participate and clean up, what a much cleaner place it would be.”
She also volunteers with Plastics in Paradise, where we take the beach plastics and recycle them.
“This is my first time going to Moloa‘a to collect marine debris,” she added.
Among the crowd were visitors who wanted to give back to the island during their stay, like Zachary Fox-DeVol.
Fox-Devol, 9, helped me carry what was left of a freezer up from next to the shoreline to a spot on the cliff by the hiking trail.
Fox-Devol is visiting with family from Los Angeles with his mother. Back home, they volunteer to clean up beaches in Southern California.
“I’ve done a couple of different cleanups before in California. This is my fifth time volunteering to clean up,” he said. “We’ve come to Hawai‘i every year since I was 4. I just love Hawai‘i, and I thought it would be nice to give back.”
It was quite the adventure collecting debris at Moloa‘a Beach, climbing over the lava rocks and picking bits of debris out from between tight places. Fox-Devol’s mother was so dedicated that she continued to yank at netting that wouldn’t budge and got hit by a wave. She was soaking wet afterwards, but she managed to tear off a chunk of netting and put it in a bucket to dispose of later on.
On my way collecting old water bottles, pieces of swimming equipment, some netting, a buoy and Styrofoam, I took a moment to talk to Jeff Green, from Albuquerque.
He was there with his wife and daughter to help collect marine debris.
“My brother-in-law asked us to come, so we decided to volunteer. I’ve been collecting a lot of plastic and Styrofoam and buoys,” Green said.
When it comes to protecting our oceans, he shared, “Certainly we got to reduce our use of plastics and Styrofoams. They take so long to break down and degrade and are pretty much around forever. We have to be careful about where our waste goes so it doesn’t end up in the ocean.”
Scott McCubbins, treasurer and co-coordinator in the marine debris removal program with Surfrider, was there to lead the volunteer effort.
“This is our ninth year of doing the Wednesday afternoon Net Patrol,” McCubbins said. “August 2013 was the first Wednesday Net Patrol and we’ve been doing this project here on this coastline for fourth months. We started in the end of April and will end at the end of August. Currently we have 21 super sacks filled up with marine debris, and the average weight for each sack is about 350 to 400 pounds each.”
The types of things he usually finds when out collecting debris includes derelict fishing nets from the commercial fishing industry, buoys, tires and plastic.
According to organizers, future dates to volunteer with Net Patrols of the Kaua‘i Surfrider group to participate in marine debris removal include the next three Wednesday afternoons, Aug. 3, 10 and 17 at 3:30 p.m. from the Moloa‘a Sunrise Fruit Stand.
Volunteers hike for about 15 minutes down a fishing-access trail to the rocky coastline past the end of Ko‘olau Road. Buckets and sacks are provided to collect and store marine debris.
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Monique Kemper is a lifelong North Shore resident who lives in Princeville and writes periodically for The Garden Island.
