HWF & Matson Ship Another Container to Nets-to-Energy Program

HWF staff and Volunteers loading a Matson container with fishing nets and line. PC: Demian Barrios

Hawai’i Wildlife Fund (HWF) and volunteers filled another 40-foot container on Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018, with 20,820 pounds (10 tons) of derelict fishing and cargo nets and line they collected during the last six months from Hawai‘i Island coastlines.

Of these massive net and line bundles, five truckloads were collected from the Kona and Hilo Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) offices. These truckloads were collected by community volunteers, dive
shops, local fishermen and the statecDepartment of Land and Natural Resources staff.

The load also included nets from both Pohoiki and Wai‘ōpae in areas that were subsequently covered in lava.

This is the second container filled and shipped to O‘ahu by HWF this year—the 11th since 2005 via the Ka Ipu ‘Āina program, thanks to Matson.

This entire effort is a part of the NOAA Nets-to-Energy partnership.

Since HWF began contributing nets to this program 13 years ago, 63 tons of nets have been diverted from the Hawai‘i Island landfills. The nets being sent for incineration have primarily been collected by HWF staff and volunteers but also include efforts by County of Hawai‘i lifeguards, DLNR staff and
community members around the island.

“We love that the community looks to HWF to report and remove large net bundles,” said HWF Education Coordinator Stacey Breining. “Net bundles can potentially entangle or smother our precious marine life and animals have been known to ingest it as well. That’s why we relentlessly strive to clean it up. Folks can bring any nets or lines they have collected to our net collection bins outside both the Hilo (Wailoa Fisheries Station) and Kona (Honokōhau Harbor) DLNR DAR offices.”

To report any large or potentially dangerous debris items, call HWF’s marine debris hotline at (808) 769-7629 and the DLNR at (808) 587-0405.

For more information, go online.

About Matson’s Ka Ipu Aina Program

Matson’s Ka Ipu Aina program supports community members and small organizations cleaning up our land and sea environment. Once the container reaches O‘ahu, the nets move into NOAA’ s Nets-To-Energy program and are transported to Schnitzer Steel Industries, where they will be chopped into pieces suitable for combustion at the City and County of Honolulu’s H-POWER energy waste facility run by Covanta Energy (transport and other services are donated free of charge to HWF). The combustion process drives steam-powered turbines to produce electricity. The Nets-To-Energy Program, organized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is a multi-organizational
marine debris partnership between local nonprofit community groups and private businesses. NOAA estimates that 100 tons of nets can power 43 households in Honolulu for a year. To learn more about this program, go online. 

About Hawai’i Wildlife Fund

HWF is a small nonprofit conservation organization founded in 1996 to conserve native wildlife. During its 22-year existence, in addition to coastal habitat restoration and wildlife protection, HWF and volunteers have removed a total of 280 tons of marine debris from the shores of Hawai’i Island (88.6% by weight), Maui, and Midway. In 2017 alone, HWF removed over 76,000 pounds of marine debris (nets, lines and plastic) during 65 cleanup events on Maui and Hawai‘i Island. The majority of HWF’s marine debris removal work is conducted by our treasured volunteers, with financial support from the federal
government (grants from NOAA’s Marine Debris Program), local businesses, in-kind and monetary donations from individuals and groups around the world.

If you would like more information on this project or how to get involved with HWF,  email kahakai.cleanups@gmail.com or at (808) 769-7629 or check the HWF website.