Kauaʻi Coastline Cleanup: Ahunkini (Behind the Airport)

We spend a large portion of our time scanning the coastline around the island for marine debris and grabbing it every chance we get. Amongst the directors and word from the community, we take surveys and notes throughout each month to determine where the most good could possibly be done with a large group cleanup effort. For this community coastline cleanup, we scanned all around the coast. Unfortunately, we have to report that there is marine debris pretty much everywhere on the Windward exposed areas, as well as the leeward areas that experienced flooding over this past few days. We cleaned as much as we could everywhere we went as always, but have to say that behind the airport is still the most marine debris ridden spot. It seems to be a collection zone for loads of marine debris and rarely gets community traffic to upkeep the constant flow it receives. Being on the Windward side of the island, this spot, like all others on the Hawaiian Islands’ Eastern coastlines, receives the most amount of debris from the gyres of plastic waste in the Northern Pacific Ocean. Given the direction of the prevalent current and wind systems, our Windward exposed coastlines experience conditions ideal for currents and wind to bring in large amounts of marine debris around 200-250 days per year. The 2nd and 3rd photos from @noaadebris show the patterns of movement and how we end up with a ton on our shorelines. Keep in mind the current statistic from @oceana is that 8 million pieces of plastic enter the ocean every day, and there is estimated to be 363,762,732,605 pounds of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans as of 2021. So please join in this Saturday from 9am-12pm to protect the ocean! We will have all cleanup materials, refreshments, and snacks provided as always. We recommend wearing reef-safe sunscreen, bringing plenty of water in a reusable container, and wearing closed toed shoes or tabis for the rocky coastline area we’re cleaning up. Most of our haul from 2022 came from this zone, and we’re so incredibly grateful to keep up the effort to #HoomaluKeKai (#ProtectTheOcean)🙏🌊