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Marine Debris Hauled from Northwestern Isles Print E-mail
Written by Brooks Baehr - bbaehr@kgmb9.com   
June 06, 2008 06:22 PM

 
An 18 day clean-up cruise ended Friday when the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Walnut slipped back into Honolulu Harbor carrying more than 63,000 lbs. of marine debris from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

"The currents are such that they create these convergent zones where things collect over time, and it just so happens that the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and even the main Hawaiian islands, are in this current flow. Over time it (debris) just accumulates," said Chip Young, a coral reefs specialist with the National Atmospheric and Atmospheric Administration.

All of the debris picked up on this mission came from Midway Atoll and Maro Reef.

"Fortunately we caught a good stretch of weather. We were able to get into some places that hadn't been previously surveyed, and that's one of the reasons why we were able to recover so much debris on this mission," said Jeff Randall, the Walnut's Commanding Officer.

The total amount of debris picked up during the trip is not a record, but one of the three skiffs involved in the operation hauled in more than 4,000 pounds in a single day, and that they say is a new record.

The debris poses a very real risk for monk seals and sea turtles. They can get tangled in the nets and die, so both NOAA and the Coast Guard consider this clean up mission a huge success.


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Last Updated ( June 06, 2008 06:22 PM )
 
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