Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Efforts
Marine debris, specifically derelict fishing gear (DFG), threatens the near-pristine coral reef ecosystems of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), which lie in an area prone to the accumulation of floating debris because of its central location in the North Pacific gyre. These lost or abandoned nets entangle and kill critically endangered Hawaiian monk seals, threatened green sea turtles, sea birds, and other wildlife, damage sensitive reef habitat, and have been known to act as a vector for the introduction of non-native species.
DFG floats into the region and comes to rest within the more protected, low-energy, shallow water environments inside barrier reefs of the NWHI. Since 1996, an extensive multiagency debris removal program led by the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center has removed 511 metric tons (MT) of DFG from various locations within the NWHI.
In 2006, NWHI marine debris removal efforts were reduced to a maintenance level aimed at keeping pace with new accumulations by resurveying areas with historically high marine debris densities. Although 19 MT were removed during the first season of this maintenance effort, debris continues to accumulate at an estimated 52 MT per annum (Dameron et al., in press), nearly three times the amount removed in 2006. The majority of the 2006 work was performed using small, inflatable boats launched from NOAA's R/V Oscar Elton Sette. The team also led two smaller scale efforts in the NWHI; one in conjunction with a PIFSC Protected Species Division (PSD) cruise, during which land debris from several NWHI locations was collected, and the other in collaboration with the United States Coast Guard (USCG), which focused on high density debris areas at Midway Atoll.
Supported by NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program and Marine Debris Program, the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center's Coral Reef Ecosystem Division will continue to plan annual NWHI survey and removal efforts based on proportional accumulation at each atoll/reef.