Beachgoers encountered vast heaps of marine debris at Kailua Beach early Tuesday, and volunteers jumped into action to clean it up while the state and city pondered jurisdictional questions.
While walking his dog Tuesday morning, Kailua resident Ramon Vrielink found a carpet of nets, ropes, chairs, metal and plastic of all sorts blanketing the beach fronting the beach spot known as Castle’s. He went home, changed into shorts, got the largest rake in his arsenal, went back to the beach and started sifting and sweeping.
“It was almost like a garbage dump,” he said. “It was hard to walk on the beach with all the debris everywhere.”
Like others who frequent the beach, Vrielink said he had never seen the debris pile up as bad as it did Tuesday.
Vrielink was soon joined by dozens of others — some of them just beachgoers who saw the mess before them, others who learned of the situation after reading about in on the Facebook for the nonprofit 808 Cleanups — who spent a few hours or a few minutes picking up trash.
“A lot of people chipped in with the big stuff throughout the day, one section at a time, going from big to small, trying to go through it with a rake,” he said. “(I’m) trying to filter out as much as I can. I don’t want to disturb the underlayer of the sand.”
By sundown Vrielink, wife Leeanne Cameron-Vrielink and her mother, Jackie Cameron, and their makeshift platoon of volunteers successfully cleared a good section of the Castle’s side of Kailua Bay. But they weren’t the only ones. From Kailua Beach Park to Kalama Beach to Castle’s, people had gathered piles of trash and debris.
No one from the state or city was part of the cleanup, at least not on the Castle’s end of the bay.
Vrielink has a vested interest. He manages a private residence along the beach and also paddles in the area, as does Cameron-Vrielink.
But none of those things spurred them to action.
“There were a lot of sharp things and rope,” he said. “My main goal is to just try to get the big debris because I do see a lot of turtles in the water. We’ve just got to take care of the ocean, take care of our beaches. Malama the ocean and …”
“Malama the aina,” chimed in Cameron-Vrielink, who moved to Hawaii with Vrielink originally from Calgary, Alberta, about 14 years ago.
The debris seemed to have come from a variety of sources.
Some appeared to have arrived from Japan, nearly seven years after the tsunami that hit Fukushima prefecture following a nuclear power plant meltdown. Other items looked as though they had washed onto the beach after making their way from the canal at the beach park that emanates from Enchanted Lake just south.
Waimanalo resident Jennifer Cirillo Nahinu and her daughters Lalea and Kalei,
9 and 8, respectively, were among those who showed up and helped pick up debris for several hours after reading about the situation on 808 Cleanup’s Facebook page.
Cirillo Nahinu said it makes sense to her for an agency to be devoted to cleaning up the beaches.
Nathan Serota, a spokesman for the city Department of Parks and Recreation, said in a statement that the department and the state Department of Land Natural Resources were made aware of the debris “and are working together to address this accumulation,” adding, “There are many things to consider when dealing with marine debris of this nature including whether it contains potentially harmful organisms and where it can be safely and properly disposed.”
Serota added, “We appreciate the efforts that community members, organizations, and non-profits have made to help keep our beaches clean. While gathering debris brought in from the ocean is certainly helpful, properly disposing of it is just as important.”
Deborah Ward, DLNR spokeswoman, said DLNR crews would likely pick up the trash if the city didn’t.
But by day’s end Andrew Pereira, city spokesman, said city crews would clear the mess today.
Several beachgoers suggested that the state or city dedicate a crew to clean the beaches with “sand sifters” as is done along the coast in various California municipalities.
