SALT POND — “If you pick it up, the albatrosses won’t eat it,” said Scott Bacon, Friday morning. Bacon was leading a section on beach cleanup and marine debris during the Science on the Beach program coordinated by Jean Souza,
SALT POND — “If you pick it up, the albatrosses won’t eat it,” said Scott Bacon, Friday morning.
Bacon was leading a section on beach cleanup and marine debris during the Science on the Beach program coordinated by Jean Souza, the Kaua‘i Programs Coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.
This is not the first time for the Science on the Beach program, but was a first for the students in the county’s Summer Enrichment Program at the Hanapepe Neighborhood Center site.
Previously, Souza coordinated the program with the Girl Scouts and one other of the Summer Enrichment programs at the Po‘ipu Beach Park where students would rotate through four different stations at 45-minute intervals.
Expanding on a previous presentation on albatross bolus, Makana and Scott Bacon started out with an examination of bolus, and following a hands-on collection of debris located around the park, had students on their hands and knees dissecting the collection into cigarette butts, drink caps, and other debris including pieces of balloons, chicken bones, and other trash that have the potential of washing into the ocean and being eaten by albatross and other sea birds.
The segment on ocean etiquette was geared to increase awareness of individual actions and the impact on reef environment while promoting responsible behavior around the ocean environment. This was enhanced by students creating gyotaku, or fish prints, to better learn fish anatomy and body forms.
Dr. Carl Berg had good news for students in the Water Quality Analysis station when he graphically announced the cleanliness of ocean water at Salt Pond, using an ultraviolet lamp, or black light, to graphically show the bacterial levels of samples collected at Salt Pond, Pakala and Kalapaki Bay.
Students were sent out in a fan from the mini pavilion where the activity was taking place, and using samples from various parts of the beach park, could graphically map out salinity and turbidity levels under Berg’s guidance.
There were no Hawaiian monk seals on the beach, but that did not stop Bruce Parsil and Donna Lee from working with the students, some of whom got hands-on experience in driving in barrier stakes to keep people within the safe limits of viewing the endangered monk seals.
That activity climaxed a session where the students were able to view computerized material and video discussing seal biology and behavior.
Souza said the program is similar to the program she worked with King Kaumuali‘i Elementary School students at the Hanama‘ulu Beach Park earlier in the school year, and has been streamlined from the program at last year’s Summer Enrichment Program at Po‘ipu.
County officials are already looking at possibly rotating the activity through other programs, targeting an Eastside program for next year.
