The weather conditions prior to this reef clean up were severe. We had a strong low pressure northerly storm hit Hawaii. Bringing severe rain fall, wind, surf, cold temps, flooding, and even snow. This storm raged for almost a week. The strong surf slammed massive boulders, rock, and debris into the coast line of Maui devastating and destroying parts of reef and also bringing in large amount of trash and debris. Our shallow juvenile reef at the Wailea Beach was devastated by the impact of the storm. Hence the reason we decided to do our first reef clean up.
Survey Depth Range
6–20 feet
Area Surveyed
8968 ft2
Dominant Substrate
rock
Ecosystem
coral reef
Wave Conditions
Calm (glassy to rippled) for waves 0 – 0.1 meter high
The turtle was spotted several times by snorkelers and kayakers. Some free divers went down to untangle it. They cut the front fins free so the turtle could swim but they were unable to cut the rest of the rope around the neck off. We have not seen the turtle since that incident.
Yes. There was a severe storm the week prior that brought massive surf that brought a bunch of trash and debris to the shoreline.
Beach chaise lounge chairs and 85lbs plastic patio umbrella holder, over 1lbs of bandaids, and over 30 rubber hair bands, plastic smoke bomb fragments.
Bandaids, we found over 100 bandaids in a 60 sq ft area
plastic fragments; the majority of trash we found was mostly plastic fragments. This is dangerous for the fish who mistake it for food. It also makes our reef look trashy and is not enjoyable for divers and snorkelers
we also found over 2 lbs of snorkel gear. This is a tourist destination there are 100s of people that snorkel in this area per day. They lose their gear in the water and it starts to add up quickly.
Comments and Feedback
We used a kayak to collect all the trash.
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