Removal Efforts in the Main Hawaiian Islands
During the pilot cleanup effort in June 2006, the Marine Debris Team removed the majority of the derelict fishing gear that was located during the aerial survey of Oahu's coastline. Of the 176 debris sites observed during the aerial survey, 169 were checked on the ground during the cleanup effort. While some of the debris piles identified during surveys could not be found by ground teams, many additional sites were discovered during the cleanup effort. In 16 days of operations, 216 piles of derelict fishing gear, totaling more than 16 metric tons, were removed. Support from the NOAA Marine Debris Program and collaboration with various federal and local agencies, businesses, NGO partners, and private property owners facilitated the success of this effort.
In February 2007, the Marine Debris Team completed a derelict fishing gear cleanup effort of operation on Lanai. Though the large amounts of debris and limited shoreline access provided logistical and physical challenges, the team removed 156 individual nets totaling ____ tons during eight field days. The success of this effort was facilitated by the use of helicopter slingloads for the removal of remote debris sites.