More than 25 volunteers enjoyed beautiful Kapoho sunshine Sept. 18 and 21, while picking up more than 11.25 tons of Hurricane Iselle storm surge-deposited debris.
More than 25 volunteers enjoyed beautiful Kapoho sunshine Sept. 18 and 21, while picking up more than 11.25 tons of Hurricane Iselle storm surge-deposited debris.
The storm surge from Hurricane Iselle pushed tons of coastal vegetation and household materials into a series of interconnected anchialine ponds and tide pools in and around the Kapoho Wai‘opae Marine Life Conservation District (MLCD).
The cleanup teams included a dive team from Nautilus Dive Center, Kapoho area residents, volunteers from East Hawaii and a visitor from Australia.
The rare anchialine ponds and tide pools are an interconnected part of the Wai’opae Tidepools MLCD, a string of tide pool and reef ecosystems stretching along the Kapoha area.
Coordinator Carey Yost said event organizers are grateful to each of the volunteers who helped make this cleanup happen, with a special mahalo to Randy Kala‘uli for work with his donated backhoe, without which this could not have been done. Lots of help also came from county officials, various businesses and area residents.
The data collected will be added to the Ocean Conservancy’s “International Coastal Cleanup” database that is used to track worldwide marine debris.
For more information on the coastal cleanup, visit the Ocean Conservancy’s website at www.oceanconservancy.org/our-work/marine-debris.