By ODA Hawai’i Island Chapter Leader Sarah Milisen

Once more, Ocean Defenders Alliance (ODA) teamed up with our dive boat partner Kona Honu Divers on Wednesday, June 23^rd, for our every-other-month cleanups around our adopted dive sites near Keahole Point for a productive day of volunteering!

There was a big shoreline, island-wide, fishing tournament this month, and we wanted to get back to those points and heavily fished places, and clean up what we could, as quickly as we could. 

Crew and volunteers on board this day: John Coladonato, Marlene Demery, Mark England, Dee Fulton, Milo Girogio, Maile Goss, Tina Jensen, Cameron McDonald, Dot Norris, Larry O’Brien, Bo and Jamie Pardau, Shannon Rogers, Art Tarsa and Cheri & Robert Trimble.  16 people in all! Bo is our amazing underwater photographer – we’re so grateful he’s on our crew!

We tied up to the south side of Keahole Point, right off the fishing platform (old, disconnected deep water pipe platform). The current was pretty strong, but I knew our team was capable. Milo and I splashed first and made a wide search of the area looking for debris and net chunks.  We decided to create a “no go zone” that our divers weren't allowed to pass, due to strong currents running offshore and away from the island.

Divers immediately found many abandoned fishing lines, lead fishing weight and lures amongst all the little cauliflower corals. Busy bees collecting as much as they could before returning to the boat.  Bags and bags of lead were transferred up to the boat as divers safely held onto the deployed current line. 

We took an hour breather on the boat and decided to move to another spot.

Onto the Megalab site

Dive site number two we call the Megalab site – it's a little farther south along Keahole Point, where less shoreline fishing is done, but we still often see fishers there, and our team hadn't been there in months.

The current was less of an issue at this site, thankfully, and once our surface interval (break time on the boat) was over, we all jumped in to clean again! There was less lead here, but definitely some fishing line to collect.

Most of it was around the derelict, discarded NELHA pipes that fishers’ lines seem to snag on somehow. 

Bo was miraculously able to capture our underwater group shot this round, and we all came back smiling  knowing how productive the day had been! 

On today's dive, we hauled out an incredible FIFTY-FIVE POUNDS of fishing weights!!! Our volunteers cut each one from its line and separated them into smaller (very heavy) bins for our friend to melt down into diving weights.

ODA Ocean Cleanup Crew with Their "Catch of the Day"

We also removed 7 spark plugs, half a dozen lures, a light-up bobber, and approximately 30 fishhooks. Having unraveled and measured many tangled piles of fishing line, I estimate 1,000 feet of line total for the day. And little did we know, it was Cameron's BIRTHDAY that day!!! She told no one, so birthday wishes were wished after the fact. 

Thanks to you ALL volunteers for helping on this productive day, but especially even on your BIRTHDAY, Cam!