LIHUE — Passengers aboard Makana Charters’ Na Pali Kai II received a bit of an unwelcome surprise during their lunch break Friday afternoon.
Capt. Mike Birchett said he was about one mile off the coast of Kalalau Beach when he spotted a large buoy — not uncommon by itself. However, the buoy proved to be just the beginning of what he described as a massive amount of marine debris.
“You had to be there to see it,” he said.
The ribbon-like debris line was between 10 and 20 yards wide, up to two miles long and contained everything from car-sized bundles of commercial fishing nets to buoys, entangled ropes, large plastic fuel cans and buckets, according to Birchett.
Finding trash out on the water is no unusual thing. But Friday’s incident was different.
“It just kept going and going,” he said of the rubbish. “The most amount of trash I’ve ever seen. And it was just so odd that it was in this straight line.”
While he couldn’t be certain, Birchett estimated the debris, if combined, would likely weigh two tons.
After cruising alongside it for half an hour, Birchett reported the mess, which appeared to be heading toward Niihau, to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Oahu.
Dennis Rowley of the Pacific Missile Range Facility sent out an email Friday afternoon warning ocean vessels to keep an eye out.
“Air-1 Interisland helicopters had one of their pilots check the area at (approximately 3 p.m.) but the debris line was not spotted from the air,” Rowley wrote in the internal notification, which was later copied to county, state and federal officials. “This is a significant entanglement hazard to marine mammals and all are encouraged to report any future sightings.”
Rowley added that PMRF did not have the capability to conduct a search at that time, and that the Navy and Coast Guard are not permitted to directly support such activity.
As of Sunday, the U.S. Coast Guard was still broadcasting a safety warning to all mariners.
“All mariners are advised to use caution when transiting the area and report any sightings to U.S. Coast Guard Sector Honolulu,” the broadcast says.
Jean Souza, Kauai programs coordinator of the NOAA Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, said there have been no additional sightings of the debris since Friday.
“A couple of agencies that we called could not go out,” she said. “It’s not that there has been no response, it’s just that it hasn’t been resighted.”
Birchett said he would not have seen it all had it not been for spotting his first humpback whale of the season, which he slowly made his way toward so his passengers could get a better look.
That’s when he spotted the first buoy, which he hauled onto the boat. Then there was another, this time one of the treasured glass floats from Japan, which he also pulled aboard.
The debris kept coming.
“That is when I realized, ‘God, there is a ton of stuff out here,’” he said, adding that he and his crew could have filled their entire boat had it not been for the passengers.
Birchett said he made the report in the hopes that someone would be able to respond and remove it.
“It’s the kind of stuff the whales get tangled in and all that,” he said. “Where it is now, who knows?”
Dr. Carl Berg of the Surfrider Foundation Kauai Chapter said that while his non-profit does not have a boat to retrieve debris out at sea, he is prepared to deal with it should someone find it and haul it to shore.
To report large quantities of marine debris, contact the U.S. Coast Guard in Honolulu at 808-842-2005 or the state Department of Land and Natural Resources at 808-587-0400.
• Chris D’Angelo, environmental reporter, can be reached at 245-0441 or cdangelo@thegardenisland.com.
