No cleanup help for Waikiki ‘floatilla’

Revelers at the annual Independence Day “floatilla” off of Waikiki are on their own this year as far as cleanup efforts are concerned, according to local nonprofit Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii.

For the past six years, Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii crew members and volunteers have spent the Fourth of July educating the revelers on how to dispose of their waste, and diverting about 500 pounds of debris generated by hundreds of partygoers each year.

“We are saddened not to be involved with the Flotilla Waikiki, but we can no longer encourage behavior that we don’t agree with by enabling it through our own actions,” said Kahi Pacarro, executive director of Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, in a news release. “A cascading flow of trash sinking to the ocean floor is evident during the event and has cost our organization substantial funding that we believe can be used better elsewhere.”

Pacarro said costs were close to $2,000 for the cleanup efforts every year, and that amount could be better spent on other investments for the nonprofit. Sustainable Coastlines will focus this year on educating consumers about reducing single-use plastic consumption and environmental stewardship.

For instance, partygoers are encouraged to bring their own reusable containers, plan for the proper disposal of waste and check their floats for the presence of Polystyrene foam beads or loose plastics that can be released into the ocean and harm the ecosystem.

“Our mission statement is to inspire local communities to care for their coastlines, and what we’ve been doing at the floatilla has been the enabling of bad behavior,” Pacarro said. “We’re trying to inspire them to be better stewards.”

He said the nonprofit’s goal was to show participants that it is possible to have fun and be responsible at the same time. He said it’s now time for the revelers to take on that responsibility themselves.

“It’s like making a child’s bed every morning,” he said. “We can’t enable that behavior anymore. It’s time to be responsible, and we’ve shown them how to do that.”

The Star-Advertiser reported on July 4, 2017, that an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 were in attendance at last year’s Independence Day event. There is no formal advertising, but revelers show up in Waikiki with various motorized boats and inflatable water toys to party.

Lifeguards rescued hundreds from the water last year, including a 19-year-old woman in critical condition and 10 others in serious condition after intoxication-related injuries sustained during the “floatilla.”

Honolulu Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services spokeswoman Shayne Enright said the division will be ready to respond over the holiday but does not have the resources to handle what happened last year.

“Ocean Safety will respond as available,” she said, “but we expect the entire island to be very busy, so we can’t concentrate a majority of our resources to one area.”

Last year the state assigned 14 Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement officers to the area, who were joined by two U.S. Coast Guard patrol boats. This year the Coast Guard, along with state and county officials, will be stepping up its enforcement and keeping an eye out for boaters under the influence as part of Operation Dry Water.