Photo by OCG Saving The Ocean on Unsplash (illustrative)
On 28 October 2024, NOAA announced that the year's marine debris removal season in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, northwest of the main Hawaiian Islands, had set a record. A team from the Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project spent 77 days across seven islands and atolls pulling fishing nets and plastic off reefs and beaches.
Key facts
The 2024 season removed 298,180 pounds of debris, the largest amount since NOAA's removal work began in 1996.
Derelict fishing nets made up 191,860 pounds of the total, with 101,720 pounds of plastic and other debris.
Since 2021, the project has removed more than 1 million pounds of marine debris from the monument.
Four Hawaiian green sea turtles were freed from entanglement during the 2024 missions.
Why it matters
Ghost nets snag on coral, smother reefs and entangle endangered Hawaiian monk seals, of which only about 1,600 remain. Researchers estimate plastic fishing gear caused 76% of observed monk seal entanglements over the past 40 years, so removing it directly protects wildlife.
Worth noting
Roughly 57 tons of new fishing gear and plastic wash onto the monument's reefs and atolls every year, so cleanups must continue. The work is funded through federal infrastructure money and private donors, and depends on that funding being renewed.