KEALIA — About 40 people, including the Wahine Beach Volleyball team members from San Diego, Calif., took time out to help clear Kealia Beach of marine debris and other large pieces of trash Saturday. International Surfing Day coordinator Sheri Saari
KEALIA — About 40 people, including the Wahine Beach Volleyball team members from San Diego, Calif., took time out to help clear Kealia Beach of marine debris and other large pieces of trash Saturday.
International Surfing Day coordinator Sheri Saari said ISD is celebrated globally on June 20, but the Surfrider Foundation, Kaua‘i opted to host its beach cleanup on Saturday, coinciding with the opening of the two-day Kealia Surf Festival whose heat horns punctuated the rumble of surf and wind.
“We’re keeping an eye for tsunami debris as well,” said Dr. Carl Berg, who along with Saari, manned the Surfrider check-in point set up at Kealia Beach. “We’ve got two big teams out doing net patrol. One is near the mouth of Keapana Stream and the other team is at Donkey Beach.”
Keri Cooper of Kapa‘a was one of the volunteers seeking out the net patrol near the bridge spanning Keapana Stream, but instead found her own netting, submerged in the water at the stream’s mouth.
“I’m just looking for plastics and other debris,” Cooper said while seeking out the net patrol. “There are a lot of bottle caps, I’ve found some cigarette butts, and a lot of small plastic. Even the small pieces can be ingested by birds and cause them harm. I think I have about 15 pounds, but every little bit makes a difference.”
Berg said they also found some construction debris and a large piece of mussel-encrusted Styrofoam.
“These could be tsunami debris, but they’re too new,” he said, referring to recent news accounts of tsunami debris finds in the Northwest and Alaska. “It’s only a matter of time before they reach us, so we’re keeping an eye out for them.”
Saari said the Wahine Beach Volleyball club, here on a nine-day retreat, finally was able to locate the check-in table and decided they would drive up to the Donkey Beach access.
They were lost earlier, getting in on the tail end of the Mayor-a-thon which was taking place at the Kapa‘a Beach Park.
“We were interested in doing the beach cleanup before we left,” said Wahine Beach Volleyball coach Noel Frohman Filbott at the Mayor-a-thon where the Zumba session led by Ho‘ola Lahui served as a nice warmup followed by the healthy breakfast from Sweet Marie’s.
Saari said the International Surfing Day celebrates the sport of surfing and helps raise awareness about issues facing our oceans, waves and beaches.
ISD is a worldwide celebration of the sport of surfing and an opportunity to give back to coastal environments through various events organized by the Surfrider Foundation.
The event was founded in 2005 by Surfrider Foundation and Surfing Magazine and has grown from a handful of local observances to more than 200 events in 30 countries around the world.
Berg said this year’s cleanup got some help from the county who will haul away the trash if the volunteers get it up to the multi-use path.
Sponsors of food and prizes for this year’s event include the County of Kaua‘i Department of Parks and Receation, Deja Vu Surf, The Coconut Cup, Papaya’s Natural Foods, Mermaids Cafe, Bubba’s Burgers, Starbucks and Tamba Surf Co., Saari said.
Visit www.intlsurfingday.com for more information on ISD and www.surfrider.org for more information on the Surfrider Foundation.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
