NWHI

Every year, multiple NOAA offices collaborate to support a marine debris removal effort in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM), located in the remote and mostly uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Due to the PMNM’s location in relation to the North Pacific Gyre and ocean currents, this area is often highly afflicted with marine debris and these efforts are greatly needed. This year, the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) Coral Reef Ecosystem Program of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the NOAA Marine Debris Program, and the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument of the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries have organized and supported an effort to clean Midway, Kure, and Pearl and Hermes Atolls, Lisianski and Laysan Islands, and the French Frigate Shoals. The 2016 mission launched on Tuesday, April 12^th, and will work to remove marine debris for a month, until the mission ends on May 13^th. 

By: James Morioka, Guest Blogger and Field Logistics Specialist with the NOAA PIFSC, Coral Reef Ecosystem Program

The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (PMNM), located around the mostly uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, includes reefs, atolls, and shallow and deep-sea habitats which are home to more than 7,000 marine species, many unique to Hawai`i. Centrally located within the North Pacific Gyre, the PMNM is particularly prone to marine debris accumulation that presents potentially lethal threats to numerous marine and avian species. For example, of the approximately 1.5 million Laysan Albatrosses located at Midway Atoll in the far northwest of the PMNM, nearly all are found to have plastic in their digestive system, and roughly one-third of chicks die due to plastic ingestion.