Plentiful Pacific trash proves ‘shocking’ to canoe voyagers

The flotilla of double-hulled sailing canoes that left the Hawaiian Islands more than a week ago has encountered masses of rubbish floating in the northeastern Pacific.

Capt. Johnathan Smith, aboard the Fijian canoe Uto Ni Yalo, said they have been passing through so much rubbish that it’s difficult to keep a list of it in the log.

"That’s how much rubbish is out here," Smith wrote on the vessel’s blog. "It is shocking here in the North Pacific."

The flotilla left Kauai on July 10 en route to San Francisco, after island hopping in the Hawaiian Islands. They also paid homage to the Hawaii crew members of the Hokule‘a who reignited interested in double-hulled canoe sailing with their historic Hawaii-Tahiti voyage in 1976 and subsequent voyages across the Pacific.

Crew members reported Monday on the Internet that they were about 1,000 miles north of Hawaii. The crews began their voyage from New Zealand on April 19.

One of their missions is to bring attention to environmental problems facing the Pacific Ocean.

Smith said the rubbish includes nets, ropes, tires, toothbrushes and plastic bottles.

He said the canoe has been dropping sails and stopping at 15- to 20-minute intervals to pick up the "big stuff" such as nets and masses of rope that could entangle whales, turtles, dolphins and sharks.

Uto Ni Yalo crew member Elina Naigulevu said the crew decided to pick up a huge island of rope.

"To everyone’s surprise, it turned out that the rope was actually made up of a variety of nets, trolling lines, fishing lines and ropes. … It took about six of the boys to pull it up onto the bow," Naigulevu said.

Steven Tawake, one of the crew members, fell overboard Sunday while picking up rubbish, Smith said.

A life ring was tossed, and the Uto Ni Yalo maneuvered to pick up the crewman.

"We had him back on board in five minutes," Smith said. "Luckily, the weather was pretty calm and the water wasn’t too cold."

The crew has been catching fish, including a mahimahi, to supplement its diet.

Aside from the Uto Ni Yalo, the flotilla includes the Gualofa from Samoa, Marumaru Atua from the Cook Islands, Te Matau a Maui from Aotearoa (New Zealand), Ohana Waa from Hawaii and two pan-Pacific canoes: the Haunui and Hine Moana.

The progress of the voyagers can be tracked at pacificvoyagers.com.