An Evening with Plastic at Kahului Harbor! 10/15/2012

Okay. I will admit. The last two weekends I was not at Kahului Harbor doing my weekly clean ups.
And I regret not being out there because of THIS!

Mystery Bones at Kahului Harbor

A couple of weeks ago I found a bone at Kahului Harbor Section 2.
It looked like a turtle beak, but I'm not quite sure. Last time I made a guess about a turtle I was incorrect.
Anyways, here's some pictures:

International Coastal Clean Up! Sept. 15, 2012, Kahului Harbor

Saturday September 15, 2012 was the International Coastal Clean Up Day!

A worldwide (for lack of better words) revolution where clubs, organizations and individuals around the world get together to clean up their beaches.

A group that I usually hang out with went to Kahekili Beach Park in Lahaina, Maui; However, I had to work in the morning, so I missed participating with them.

Instead, after I  finished work, I went down to Kahului Harbor to the portion I call Section 1, to collect marine debris!

I had started at 11:55 am.

Kahului Harbor Clean Up: Week 2; Net Extraction 8/19/2012

Morning all!
Man that was a long weekend.
Joined a gym, school started, saturday night obon with the new Japanese students, trying to keep up with my anime blog.
But! This past Sunday, a few of my friends and I went back out to Kahului Harbor to pull out that giant net that was stuck and buried under the rocks.
I thought I knew what I was getting into, but I totally under estimated the "huge-ness" of that net.

I thought that the smaller portion that I managed to pull out last weekend was separated from the bigger net. WRONG. All of the net in that area was clumped and jumbled together beneath almost 5 feet of rocks and sand.

Thanks to the tools provided by my friend Daniel, my best friend, Lindy and his portuguese thinking and John and his... motivated spirits, we managed to pull out approximately 900 pounds of net!

At first I thought maybe it was only 200 pounds, but Lindy said he knows what 200 pounds feels like, and THAT was no 200 pounds.

Kahului Harbor Clean Up Log: Week 1

Greetings Readers!

Sunday August 12, 2012 marks the beginning of my weekly logged adventures to Kahului Harbor. Every Sunday, from 12:00pm to 5:00pm (possibly earlier in the day), I will head to Kahului Harbor to pick up trash and plastic debris which is brought in from the tides.

The amount of plastic debris out there is RIDICULOUS.

Tiny bits of plastic are scattered EVERYWHERE and is even mixed in with the rocks because of the ebb and flow of the tide.

FINAL Update on Dead Turtle at Kahului Harbor

So as stated in the entry before this one, I met Michelle, a volunteer from the Turtle Stranding Network, out at the harbor yesterday.

I took her to where the carcass was, she measured it at 81cm long, and after a few moments where technology did not want to help us, we were finally able to send pictures to George Balazs.
(I believe he is the Sea Turtle Scientist I read about some where).

We were finally able to send him pictures and he confirmed that is was NOT a hawksbill sea turtle. It was, indeed, a green sea turtle.
(Read further for more information and pictures. Keep in mind, they're still nasty).

Second Follow Up on Dead Turtle at Kahului Harbor

I met Michelle out at Kahului Harbor and showed her where the dead turtle was. (I must have not explained it correctly the first time).

After having a rather difficult time taking pictures of the turtle and e-mailing them to her Head of her division, we've finally identified that it was NOT a hawksbill turtle.

She measured it at 81cm long and it was a green sea turtle.

Since hawksbill turtle are critically endangered and green sea turtles are not, Michelle did not need to collect the carcass. Which was totally okay with us since the remains were even WORSE than tuesday.

I also confirmed that it did indeed have Fibropapilloma (turtle tumors/turtle herpes). Those lumps protruding out of the bottom of its eye and at the base of its neck are remnants of those tumors.

So after all that, the carcass will just be left there to let the ocean take it bit by bit.

(more pictures and video log to be posted later tonight)

Checking On The Turtle! Follow Up Entry to be Posted Later Tonight

Dead Hawksbill at Kahului Harbor... Still there; Turtle Birthdays at Maui Ocean Center Tomorrow, June 29!

Two days ago, Michelle, one of the ladies with the Turtle Stranding Network, was unable to locate the dead turtle at Kahului Harbor.

So I went back there yesterday to see if it was still there, and yes it was.
It actually got a little worse (I think) because the odor was ridiculously strong... Very stink and nasty...

I took a short video to show that I had propped its head up on some rocks. You can really see the lump on the back of its neck, which I still think is a tumor.

(The following is the video of the dead turtle):

Walk to Kahului Harbor Turns into an Interesting (and nasty) Adventure: The Remains of a Dead Hawksbills Turtle

Hello Readers!

As the title says, I found a very mangled and very DEAD turtle at Kahului Harbor today.
I was walking along the coast line looking for parts that I could use.

Kahului Harbor has a LOT of junk/trash that washes up on the "beach" from God knows where. (This place is also at the top of my list of beach clean ups).

So I was walking along when I came across what I thought was whale intestines!
It was just a heaping hunk of flesh just washed up on the shore. There was no shell, so I couldn't tell it was a turtle at first.

As I got closer, I could just barely make out it front right flipper. I didn't have my video camera on me, but I did have my phone. The following video is my raw footage of the turtle find:

**WARNING** The video is pretty gross. If you have a weak stomach, DON'T watch it.