2024
Mission #3 of 2024: 30-Day Clean-up in Papahānaumuokuākea Marine National Monument
September 9th, 2024 - October 10th, 2024
COMPLETE! 175,730 lbs of marine debris removed!
This expedition prioritized removing marine debris from Manawai (Pearl and Hermes Atoll), Hōlanikū (Kure Atoll), and Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll). In addition to our work at Manawai and Hōlanikū, we removed 32,070 lbs of plastic debris that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had collected over the years on Kuiahelani.
Of the 175,730 lbs of debris…
132,070 lbs were ghost net
42,070 lbs were ocean plastics (32,070 from USFWS)
1,590 lbs were derelict vessels
We achieved a major milestone during this mission, eclipsing 1,000,000 lbs of marine debris removed since our inception in 2020 as a non-profit!
Click here to re-live the journey, read blogs from the team, and check out all of the updates from this mission!
28-Day Clean-up mission to Papahānaumuokuākea Marine National Monument
August 3rd, 2024 - August 30th, 2024
COMPLETE! 84,440 pounds of marine debris removed!
This 28-day cleanup expedition prioritized removing entanglement hazards from Lālo (French Frigate Shoals), Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll), Laysan Island (Kapou), Lisianski Island (Kamole), and Kamokuokamohoali’i (Maro Reef).
84,440 pounds of marine debris was removed during this mission. This included items like derelict fishing nets, large and small plastics, and a small derelict fishing vessel.
This project was led and managed by Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project (PMDP) and was their second removal mission of 2024!
Click here to re-live the journey and check out all of the updates from this mission!
19-Day Clean-up mission to Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll)
April 15th, 2024 - May 3rd, 2024
COMPLETE! 70,080 pounds of marine debris from the shorelines of Kuaihelani.
This 19-day fly-in, fly-out cleanup mission was the first of its kind for PMDP. We prioritized removing entanglement hazards and large plastics from the shorelines of Kuaihelani.
Marine debris removed by island:
Sand Island -- 24,360 pounds
Eastern Island -- 40,490 pounds
Spit Island -- 5,230 pounds
This project was led and managed by Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project (PMDP) and was their first removal mission of 2024!
Click here to follow all of the real-time updates from this mission!
2023
30-Day Remote Reef Cleanup #2
August 27, 2023 - September 23, 2023
COMPLETE! A record breaking 126,310 lbs of marine debris removed!
This 28-day cleanup expedition prioritized removing entanglement hazards from Lālo (French Frigate Shoals), Hōlanikū (Kure Atoll), Manawai (Pearl and Hermes Atoll). Of the 126,310 pounds of debris removed- 102,310 pounds were nets found in-water, 18,145 pounds were nets found on land, and 5,855 pounds were miscellaneous derelict items.
This project was led and managed by Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project (PMDP) and was their second removal mission of 2023!
Click here to follow all of the real-time updates from this mission!
30-Day Remote Reef Cleanup
July 5 - August 2, 2023
COMPLETE! 86,100 lbs of debris removed!
This 28-day cleanup expedition prioritized removing entanglement hazards from Kamole (Laysan Island), Kapou (Lisianski Island), and Kamokuokamohoali’i (Mark Reef) . Of the 86,100 pounds removed- 69,330 pounds of derelict fishing net and 16,770 pounds of plastics scattered along the shorelines.
This project was led and managed by Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project (PMDP) and was their first removal mission of 2023!
Click here to re-live all of the real-time updates from this mission!
2022
30-Day Remote Reef Cleanup #2
September 15 - October 13, 2022
COMPLETE! 105,655 lbs of debris removed!
This 28-day cleanup expedition prioritized removing entanglement hazards from Kapou (Lisianski), Hōlanikū (Kure Atoll), Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll), and Manawai (Pearl and Hermes Atoll). Of the 105,655 pounds removed- 64,000 pounds were in-water derelict fishing nets removed from coral reefs, 32,530 pounds of net that had washed up onto the shores (land debris), and 9,125 pounds of plastics scattered along the shorelines.
This project was led and managed by Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project (PMDP) and was their second removal mission of 2022!
Click here to re-live all the real-time updates from this mission!
30-day Remote Reef Cleanup #1
July 1 - July 30, 2022
COMPLETE! 97,295 lbs removed!
This mission prioritized removing hazardous entanglement hazards and other dangerous marine debris from the shallow (0-30 ft depth) coral reef environments via breath-hold snorkeling (free-diving) and shoreline environments. This project was led and managed by the Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project (PMDP). All participating field staff are PMDP employees (contracted through IBSS).
The team removed an incredible 97,295 lbs of marine debris from the the sensitive and critically important ecosystems of Papahānaumuokuākea Marine National Monument! Of that, 86,000 lbs came from a single reef: Kamokuokamohoali’i.
Click here to see where they went!
2021
23-day Shoreline Cleanup
COMPLETE! 94,472 POUNDS REMOVED!
March 30 - April 21, 2021
This 23 day cleanup expedition focused on removing derelict fishing nets and plastics from the shorelines of five islands and atolls within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. This collaborative project, in partnership with NOAA, the State of Hawaii, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, successfully cleaned over 10 linear miles of shoreline habitat at Kamole (Laysan Island), Kapou (Lisianski Island), Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll), and Hōlanikū (Kure Atoll). A total of 94,472 pounds of harmful marine debris was pulled from these sensitive shorelines. Click HERE to re-live all the real-time updates from the field mission.
Link to media press release here.
30-day Remote Reef Cleanup
August 23 - September 22, 2021
COMPLETE!
This 30-day cleanup expedition, in partnership with NOAA, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service Coastal Program, removed 123,690 lbs of derelict fishing nets from the remote reefs of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The debris removal team conducted work at six islands and atolls, freediving (breath-hold diving) to depths of 30ft to cut derelict fishing nets free from the sensitive coral reefs. This work eliminated entanglement/drowning hazards for endangered Hawaiian monk seals and threatened green sea turtles and protected coral reefs from being broken or smothered by these large nets.
2020
16-day Cleanup Mission to Lalo (French Frigate Shoals)
October 20 - November 5, 2020
The team has just returned from the cleanup operation and we’re happy to announce the successful removal of a total of 82,600 pounds of debris! This included scrap wood, plastics, fishing nets, buoys, scrap metal, boat hulls, and roofing.
When Hurricane Walaka passed over the atoll of Lalo (French Frigate Shoals) as a category 3 storm in October of 2018, wind and storm surge scattered debris from relic military infrastructure across the atoll’s biggest island, Tern Island. Lumber, roofing, steel cable, scrap metal, boat hulls, tires, fiberglass, and concrete fragments, as well as the usual accumulated derelict fishing nets and ocean plastics cluttered areas of Tern Island. Since the storm, the debris cluttering Tern has posed a major hazard to wildlife, entangling and entrapping green sea turtles, Hawaiian monk seals, and several species of seabirds. In addition, the storm caused extensive additional erosion of Tern Islandʻs shoreline areas, further exposing finger-like remnants of rusting corrugated steel sea-wall, which have acted as a fence, routinely trapping monk seals and sea turtles during tidal shifts, risking eventual mortality. In this otherwise pristine marine ecosystem, evidence of past human presence is a problem that all project partners are working to eliminate.
Outreach and Education Projects
Students conduct the first test of the shredder machine after building it
Ko‘olaupoko Ocean Plastics Student Makerspace
The Windward Oahu (Koʻoloupoko) Ocean Plastics “Makerspace” is a new PMDP project which will serve as a way to locally recycle marine debris (ocean plastics) into new products, which are designed and produced by students. This makerspace, as designed, is a mobile educational platform housed entirely inside an 16-ft school bus. This will enable the space to be moved from school to school as needed or trailered to special events.
The makerspace is outfitted with simple open-source machines built and operated by students. These machines have been developed by the international PreciousPlastic organization and used all over the world to recycle plastics: https://preciousplastic.com
A suite of four machines are used to shred up plastics (bottles, containers, whatever is found on the beach), then melt down the plastic and extrude, mold, or press the plastics into new products of your own design (surfboard fins, iphone cases, classroom chair seats, etc). Students can design their own products using CAD programs, create their own molds, and produce the products themselves inside the makerspace trailer. The students then can accept those products back at the end or their useful life and turn them into another new product, completing the circular product lifecycle. Completed products can be sold to raise money for clubs, schools, non profits, etc, or given away to raise awareness of the issue of marine debris.