Letters | 12-22-14

Beach cleanup work appreciated

I would like to thank all the volunteers, from keiki to kupuna, who participated in this year’s Get The Drift &Bag It! Hawaii’s contribution to the International Coastal Cleanup.

This year’s event was on held Sept. 20 with a few groups doing their cleanups other days in September and October. Community, business and school groups and a few individuals participated in the largest, single-day, volunteer event in the world to protect our ocean and waterways. This year’s results were a little slow in coming in and so my mahalo is a little late.

The 722 volunteers this year cleaned up more than 34 miles of shoreline, waterways and underwater. They picked up about 18,888 pounds of marine debris. More than 15,000 pounds of the debris was disaster debris cleaned up in Kapoho after Tropical Storm Iselle caused so much devastation to that coastal area. Cigarette butts totaled No. 1 again, almost 32 percent of all items recorded, which is sad considering there is a smoking ban at all beaches. Plastic and glass beverage bottles numbers were way down this year , most likely because of the monetary incentive to recycle them.

What was alarming was the large number of fishing buoys, pots and traps, which claimed the No. 2 spot or about 12 percent of all debris. Another disturbing find was the amount of disposable diapers found at our beaches this year. These soiled diapers take about 450 years to disintegrate.

A recently published study, released last week by Plus One, a journal publication, estimates the ocean contains a minimum of 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic, weighing more than 268,000 tons. As we continue to use plastics in many different forms, we are seeing the danger of our careless ways. Marine animals are ingesting this plastic and carrying it up the food chain.

Marine debris is everyone’s problem and we are the cause, but we are also the only solution. We need to change our behavior before we will see a change in the amount of marine debris on our shores and in our ocean.

Thank you for participating and spreading the word about marine debris. Reduce, reuse and recycle. Mahalo for your commitment to “malama aina” by volunteering to help make a difference. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. Our planet, our ocean and our island are cleaner and healthier because of you.

For more info on marine debris, visit oceanconservancy.org and marinedebris.noaa.gov.

Terry Miura

Get the Drift &Bag It! coordinator, Aquatics Recreation Specialist I, County of Hawai Department

of Parks and Recreation

Hilo