the net that we found was first located
in September of 2013 the sheer volume of
it is pretty astounding all in all it
took about four whole days of cutting
and prepping and towing to get this
single net which weighed approximately
11 and a half tons from the reef back to
one of the four recycling processes the
focus of our survey removal efforts is
to mitigate the threats that these nets
and or other derelict fishing gear have
towards our endangered Hawaiian monk
seal and as well
our threatening green sea turtles here
and essentially these shallow coral reef
environments just act as a entrapment
for these nets and plastics that are
just flowing through the ocean the video
you see you have in one case two free
divers methodically swimming a cargo net
under a portion of this large monster
net that we found and helping to prepare
it for transport back to our NOAA Ship
from a global perspective it may be a
small net but in the capacity of the
Hawaiian Islands in the northwestern
Hawaiian Islands with pristine coral
reefs and uninhabited islands and atolls
it’s a pristine ecosystem that these
nets essentially can compromise both
destroying reefs as well as potentially
killing other mobile wildlife the pile
of debris on the back of that NOAA Ship
and basically that is the fruits of our
labor that’s the 57 tons of primarily
nets and plastics that we removed over
the 21 operational days by the time we
get to it it’s it’s essentially too late
if you think about it it needs to start
with education outreach and in getting
stories like this out to the public and
the fishermen to know that you know hey
you could be thousands and thousands of
miles away and it may not be your home
but you may be impacting somebody’s home
and their livelihood
you
in September of 2013 the sheer volume of
it is pretty astounding all in all it
took about four whole days of cutting
and prepping and towing to get this
single net which weighed approximately
11 and a half tons from the reef back to
one of the four recycling processes the
focus of our survey removal efforts is
to mitigate the threats that these nets
and or other derelict fishing gear have
towards our endangered Hawaiian monk
seal and as well
our threatening green sea turtles here
and essentially these shallow coral reef
environments just act as a entrapment
for these nets and plastics that are
just flowing through the ocean the video
you see you have in one case two free
divers methodically swimming a cargo net
under a portion of this large monster
net that we found and helping to prepare
it for transport back to our NOAA Ship
from a global perspective it may be a
small net but in the capacity of the
Hawaiian Islands in the northwestern
Hawaiian Islands with pristine coral
reefs and uninhabited islands and atolls
it’s a pristine ecosystem that these
nets essentially can compromise both
destroying reefs as well as potentially
killing other mobile wildlife the pile
of debris on the back of that NOAA Ship
and basically that is the fruits of our
labor that’s the 57 tons of primarily
nets and plastics that we removed over
the 21 operational days by the time we
get to it it’s it’s essentially too late
if you think about it it needs to start
with education outreach and in getting
stories like this out to the public and
the fishermen to know that you know hey
you could be thousands and thousands of
miles away and it may not be your home
but you may be impacting somebody’s home
and their livelihood
you
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