Tucked in the back of Kailua Beach Center, around the corner from President Obama’s favorite shave ice stop, Island Snow, the Kailua Bay Learning Center is seeking to educate tourists and locals alike about the impact of littering on Hawaii’s beaches.
For about a year, the staff at next-door neighbor Kailua Sailboards & Kayaks has been transforming the 700-square-foot space to include exhibits such as "Plastic Oceans?", which showcases the type and quantity of trash picked up over the course of three beach cleanups. The result is a room-dominating display — a Plexiglas wall 6 feet high by 4 feet wide and 6 inches thick — filled with bottle caps, toothbrushes, straws, cigarette butts and tiny pieces of plastic.
Anissa Gunther, Kailua Sailboards’ manager, said over the past year thousands of customers and beachgoers have passed through the center.
Visitors learn about the nesting wedge-tailed shearwaters at Popoia (Flat Island) and the critically endangered Hawaiian monk seals that sometimes rest on the shores of Mokunui, one of the twin islets off the coast of Kailua Beach. These wildlife sanctuaries have specific rules in place.
"I think every tour operator in Hawaii has some kind of duty to educate," Gunther said. "We want to make sure anyone going out knows the law and stays where it’s safe."
While people go to Kailua Sailboards to rent a kayak, stand-up paddleboard or snorkeling gear to get out into the beckoning turquoise waters just a block away, the business hopes they will also learn how to do it responsibly. The exhibits were funded by a Hawaii Tourism Authority grant and other contributors.
Gunther, 39, holds a bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in marine sciences and is passionate about conservation. It goes hand in hand with adventure tourism, she said.
As a matter of fact, all 30 employees at Kailua Sailboards are actively engaged in conservation from beach cleanups to seabird habitat restoration work at Mokulua.
The center emphasizes the dangers of plastic pollution, a major issue at Kailua Beach.
Visitors marvel at the 25,651 pieces of plastic sifted from the sand of Kailua Beach by 80 volunteers in just two hours.
Also on exhibit is the staff’s custom-made sand sifter, which uses a series of angled screens resting on the rungs of a ladder. Each screen has a different gauge of mesh and sifts out smaller particles from the sand. Since the design won first place at November’s Ultimate Sand Sifter Challenge sponsored by Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii and Kupu, Gunther says five more sifters are in production.
Employees construct the sand sifters predominantly from recycled materials — a stepladder, recycled bicycle tubes, broken kayak paddles and old life jacket clips.
Kailua Sailboards & Kayaks, at 130 Kailua Road, and the Kailua Bay Learning Center are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Call 262-2555 or visit www.kailuasailboards.com.
Read a Q&A with Gunther at thegreanleaf.staradvertiserblogs.com.
Nina Wu writes about environmental issues. Reach her at nwu@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter @ecotraveler.
