By Jeff Milisen, ODA Volunteer andAdvisory Board Member

This is a different kind of “fad”, it's not a "trend" or "craze" but rather the FAD we encountered was a Fish Aggregation Device (FAD) which serve to concentrate fish and other ocean life in the open ocean. They are “something” in a watery world of “nothing,” so fish naturally gravitate to them, finding shade below the FAD.

FADs can be natural flotsam like coconuts or tree branches, or they can be manmade. The state of Hawai’i manages a network of publicly-owned, man-made FADs for ocean users to enjoy, but fishers also illegally employ drifting FADs with attached GPS buoys or anchor buoys to the ocean floor.

Illegal FADs undermine attempts at management. They attract a wide variety of wildlife, which can then be harvested indiscriminately. Furthermore, instead of adding to the wild populations, FADs concentrate wild fish and make them easier to overharvest. At best, the FADs are destined to break free and become yet more debris in the ocean and will often entangle the very wildlife that they are there to attract. They may seem like habitat for wildlife, but it is important to remove illegal FADs when they are found, or else they will inevitably be lost to drift in the ocean, never to be seen again (but likely keep killing wildlife).

Sarah and I were at Costco when her phone went off – this was Sunday, August 3, 2025. The crew at Kona Honu Divers (KHD) had reported a big pile of debris to the state’s Marine Debris Reporting network. We dropped our produce and jumped into action, messaging ODA helpers and available boats. By the time we were checking out, Captain Andy was meeting us and a team of ODA volunteers at Honokohau Harbor, ready to tackle it.

Meanwhile, Sarah had contacted the KHD crew for more intel. KHD had tried to remove it, but it was too big and heavy. The debris was 3 miles offshore and seemed to be attached to the bottom, which in Kona is roughly 3,000 feet (1,000 meters) deep. State-owned FAD C was last seen on July 20, sinking. We started to suspect that it was an illegal FAD installed as a replacement by a well-meaning fisher.

We boarded our partner’s vessel Honu Lele shortly after 3 and blasted south. In less than an hour, we were in position and deploying swimmers to evaluate the debris. I was the first one in the water and was immediately greeted by an oceanic whitetip shark that was attracted to the site by the FAD. Oceanic whitetips are consistently voted the most unhinged sharks in the ocean.

Due to their oceanic habitat, they have to consider taking a bite from anything that crosses their path. This often puts them in close contact with people resulting in dire consequences. In the 1950s, they were considered to be the most common large animal on earth. Today, their global population has declined by more than 95% and they are listed as critically endangered by the IUCN, and in 2013, they were added to Appendix 2 of CITES. FADs are particularly detrimental to oceanic sharks as they are attracted into close contact with fishers, where they are often shot or hooked as bycatch. This animal bore the scars of a previous close encounter in the form of a hook and trailing line in the corner of its mouth (see close-up photo below). The shark made a few close passes at me before getting bored and skulking in the area in case something interesting happened.

Tony was next to splash and set to work evaluating the structure. The first 50-feet down consisted of a steel cable, crimped into an eye on each end and tied to a soft, nylon line that dove straight down to the bottom. Crudely tied to the cable were streaming packaging straps and some shade cloth that was meant to give the object more habitat. It didn’t appear to have much scope and only three small buoys for flotation, meaning that in any high current, it would sink.

Everything aside from the steel cable was plastic, and it was destined to drift free. Because he was free-diving, Tony began “breathing up” in preparation to dive and cut the soft line. I filmed and watched his back to make sure the shark didn’t approach too close. The topside crew of Lele then pulled it aboard. The medusafish and pelagic triggerfish that had previously hovered around the buoy now huddled around our boat. They would have to find a new home.

Each time I do a cleanup with ODA, I come away with a new reason to volunteer harder. On this day, we saw an injured critically endangered species. Sometimes that motive is the before-and-after contrast. We might dive at a coral reef completely inundated with line, or a harbor filled with boat batteries, and when we are done, the habitat has been restored and allowed to thrive once again. I struggle to think of an activity where we can have a more direct impact.

I watched 5 motivated fellow volunteers give up their Sunday to clean debris from the ocean, and that gives me hope. Thanks to Tony, Sarah, Andy, and special thanks to Kona Honu Divers for reporting the debris and giving us a ride to it!

If you’re motivated like Jeff, to keep the ODA Hawaii crew at sea, doing what they do best, we’d love to have your support in a way that works for you.