Thousands of pounds of nets, derelict fishing gear removed off Hawai‘i Island coastline

Whitney Di Stefano was on a Sunday morning walk along the Mauna Lani golf course in November when she noticed in the blue waters what appeared to be a buoy and a yellow rope bobbing in the waves.

The resident of Puakō decided to hike down to the cove to pull the debris out but as she got closer, she began to realize the mass of rope, nets and buoys was larger than it appeared. Her husband, Logan Hugueny-Clark, came down to help her remove the derelict fishing gear.

“It was so incredibly large under the water,” Di Stefano said. “There was a net stuck under the rock, and it took us almost the whole day to get it out of the water.”

Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to the conservation of Hawai‘i’s wildlife, helped get the net bundle hauled away.

This year, the nonprofit’s volunteers responded on four occasions to five net bundles reported by local residents and a visitor from California.

Net bundles were removed within a week of receiving the reports from the rocky shoreline at Hanalua Bay in May, Waiʻōhinu in September, Old Kona Airport in October, and liʻilinaehehe Bay and Kapalaʻoa in November. They totaled 3,284 pounds.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Divisions of Aquatic Resources and Boating and Ocean Recreation have been working together since 2021 through its Rapid Response Program to provide funding to nonprofits throughout the state to aid in marine debris cleanup efforts.

From April 2024 to March 2025, the Division of Aquatic Resources will allocate $90,000 to nonprofits statewide that perform marine debris cleanups, according to the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

In 2023, the Division of Aquatic Resources partnered with the Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund for shoreline debris cleanups and the Ocean Defenders Alliance for underwater cleanups. That same year, Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund responded to net reports on six occasions, removing 5,729 pounds of marine debris, including derelict fishing nets, buoys and other hard plastics, and derelict grounded vessel debris.

Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund received $14,500 in funding this year and as of November 2024, the nonprofit removed 9,013 pounds of marine debris and received four hotline phone calls.

Division of Boating and Recreation handles all large objects that float into Hawaiʻi waters like containers and boats. The Division of Aquatic Resources’ Marine Debris Hotline and contracts cover derelict fishing gear such as nets, ropes, fishing line and anything that is an entanglement hazard to marine species and their habitats.

Sarah Milisen, Hawai’i Island Chapter Leader for Ocean Defenders Alliance, said: “The floating nets just bulldoze over the reef. They snag onto the coral and it just drags. You’ll see whole dead coral heads in these derelict nets. They need to go far away from the ocean.”

In 2023, the Ocean Defenders Alliance collected 8,986 pounds of miscellaneous debris, 64,000 feet of fishing line, 461 pounds of lead weights, 556 hooks, 28 tires and 183 pounds of nets.

This year, the alliance collected 13,560 pounds in miscellaneous debris, 49,960 feet of fishing line, 583 pounds of lead weights, 364 hooks, 149 tires and 3,025 pounds of nets.

The nonprofit averages three cleanups a month. One of their largest operations occurred in April where the alliance, with help from Bodyglove and Blue Ocean Mariculture, pulled nearly 5 tons of tires out of 60 feet of water in Kailua Bay.

The project cost the alliance about $4000, including tire recycling fees.

Milisen said the alliance has also been focused on removing large nets that washed up in Pololū Valley this year. About 80% of a net, estimated at 2,000 pounds, came ashore on one beach. It was cut up and hauled out of the valley.

A new net weighing about 1,500 pounds was reported stuck in the mud in the river. Milisen said about 20% of that net has been hauled out.

“They’re already doing their damage in the ocean and now they’re rusting and our job is to get it away from the coastline,” Milisen said.

Another cleanup in the valley is scheduled on Jan. 5.

Each island deals with disposal of debris in its own way. On O‘ahu, nets are burned at an incinerator and used for energy. The majority of marine debris is sent to the landfill and buried.

The state agency said nonprofits are crucial in the removal of marine debris throughout the state.

“They have been the lead on the removal of marine debris on all islands as they can mobilize quicker than the state can since we have to follow procurement laws that end up taking a while to do,” the agency stated.

From April to December, there were 112 calls to the marine debris hotline and five contracted partners removed 21,231 pounds of nets, rope and line debris from shorelines.

The Division of Aquatic Resources also contracted four in-water organizations who removed 13,592 pounds of fishing line, hooks, lead and other miscellaneous items and recorded removing 68,045 feet of fishing line from reefs in 2024.

There is a new program created by Hawaii Pacific University’s Center for Marine Debris that is collecting the outer islands debris in containers and will be shipping it to O‘ahu to try to upcycle it.

All of the Main Hawaiian Islands, excluding Lāna‘i, have a large marine debris nonprofit that responds to calls on the hotline reporting derelict, fishing gear.

Each island also has another contract that conducts scuba or freedive operations to remove local fishing gear such as fishing line, hooks, lead and tires.

Every year, the Division of Aquatic Resources requests proposals from nonprofits hoping to obtain a marine debris contract. In-water contracts awarded vary from $7,000 to $8,000.

Nonprofits that conduct large marine debris cleanups and answer the hotline are between $9,000 and $15,000, depending on the organization’s proposal amount.

In addition, this year Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund teamed up with the volunteers of Surfrider Kauaʻi to help support the Rapid Response program expand to the Garden Island.

To report derelict fishing gear and other marine debris, the public is encouraged to call the 833-4-Da-Nets hotline.