HONOLULU (KHON2) — Surfrider Kauai just completed its most difficult and fulfilling cleanups of the year which removed 9,000 pounds of marine debris from Kauai’s remote coastlines.
Operation Airlift is an annual helicopter-assisted cleanup on a mission to remove marine debris from Kauai’s coastlines that threatens the aquatic environment.
These threats include a variety of fishing nets and plastics, about 60% of the debris is ghost nets. Ghost nets refer to lost, abandoned, or discarded fishing nets that wash up on shore.
Ghost nets continue to haunt the sea long after they are abandoned by commercial fishing operations. The nets are infamous for entangling, suffocating and starving marine species.
Operation Airlift lasted for nine Net Patrol missions. These missions begin on the ground as volunteers meet weekly to collect debris that is reported.
Volunteers were with the physically demanding task of collecting debris into super sacks and then moving them to a location where they will be airlifted out.
The only thing super about these sacks is that they are super heavy. Each sack, on average, weighs 250 pounds. This year, enough marine debris was collected to fill 36 of these “super sacks.”
The Net Patrol program was launched in 2007 as a solution to the pollution our ocean is currently facing.
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If you see any nets or other marine debris, or want to volunteer, call the Surfrider Kauai Net Patrol Hotline at 808-635-2593.