Volunteers remove 4,100 pounds of debris on Oahu’s windward coast

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Ocean Defenders Alliance (ODA) and Nudi Wear volunteers teamed up over the weekend to remove 4,100 pounds of debris from Waiahole Beach Park.

Dozens of people worked together to remove a large fiberglass skiff and 1,000 pounds of net from under the sand, along with 12 tires and one generator, for a successful cleanup on Sunday, Feb. 20.

“Waiahole Beach is in the unfortunate path of the ocean currents that bring all this debris to this neglected part of Oahu,” said Kurt Lieber, ODA founder, “although some of the stuff gets dumped there on purpose, like the generator that we found and removed.”

Lieber said their group has had a lot of successful cleanups so far this year:

• On Jan. 23, they removed 250 pounds of net from an underwater site off the coast of Huntington Beach, CA.
  
• On Jan. 29, they removed 3,200 pounds of debris from Honokohau Harbor on the Big Island.
  
• On Feb. 6, they removed 6,400 pounds of debris, mostly tires, from Kaneohe Harbor on Oahu. 
  
• On Feb. 10, they worked with a group of divers on Maui where they removed 76 pounds of lead fishing weights and about 2,500 feet of fishing lines from an area called La Perouse Bay.
  
• On Feb. 12, they charted a dive boat from Island Divers Hawaii to remove more lead fishing weights and hundreds of feet of fishing lines.

ODA’s mission is to clean and protect marine ecosystems through documentation, education and action. Volunteers primarily remove man-made debris that create serious threats to ocean wildlife and habitats.

In 2016, ODA began working in Hawaii to answer the need for ocean cleanups. The Hawaii chapter has expanded significantly on Oahu, the Big Island and Maui.