NOAA divers find the monster derelict fishing gear net that was reported last September at Pearl and Hermes Atoll. Scuba and free divers removed a piece of derelict fishing gear that was more than 28 feet long, 7 feet wide, and had a dense curtain that extended 16 feet deep. The large net weighed 11.5 tons. NOAA. November 12, 2014.
Excerpts;
A massive piece of derelict fishing gear underscores the effort, expense, and dangers posed by an ever-increasing amount of marine debris.
An 11-ton fishing net drifting near the northern Hawaiian Islands tore coral and trapped sea life, including green sea turtles and reef sharks. Scientists who regularly scour the waters for removable trash tried for more than a year to find this garbage behemoth. They finally located it last year but had to cut it into several pieces in order to lift it out of the water. Mark Manuel, of NOAA’s Coral Reef Ecosystem Division’s Marine Debris Project, describes the complicated removal of this fishing net and 57 tons of additional dangerous trash during the NOAA-led group’s 33-day mission in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.
VIEW VIDEO: National Geographic
Read Full Article, National Geographic
NOAA Removed 57 Tons of Marine Debris from Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, NOAA (11-12-2014)
“The amount of marine debris we find in this remote, untouched place is shocking,” said Mark Manuel, operations manager for NOAA Fisheries Coral Reef Ecosystem Division and chief scientist for the mission…
A Real Monster: Marine Debris, NOAA
Each year, more than 50 tons (about the weight of a dozen elephants) of marine debris washes up on the shores within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Since this protected area is very remote (more than a thousand miles from any major city) and mostly uninhabited by humans, all of this garbage is coming from somewhere else!
“Midway.” A Love Story for our Time from the Heart of the Pacific”—By Chris Jordan, Midway Film; (04-01-2015)
A shocking film from Midway Island in the North Pacific Ocean, by Midway Film.
Plastic Pollution / When The Mermaids Cry: The Great Plastic Tide, Coastal Care
“The unprecedented plastic waste tide plaguing our oceans and shores, can become as limited as our chosen relationship with plastics, which involves a dramatic behavioral change on our part…”
