
We live in a beautiful and fragile environment called Maui. There are many of us who are self described stewards of the land and try to help keep our island home as pristine as possible.
A case in point is a new volunteer group who decided they wanted to do something to help the marine environment on Maui, and wanted to clean 12 West Maui reefs over the next 12 months.
The Blue ‘Aina campaign was born.
Each month, a different reef is chosen, and along with Surfrider Foundation and up to 50 volunteers, they clean fishing line, mooring lines, rubbish and nets off the reef and beach.
The first Blue ‘Aina event was held the first weekend in December at Honolua Bay, where volunteers helped to remove leashes, broken surfboards, fishing line and marine debris.
They heard about a distressed reef at “Shark Pit” in Lahaina, where a large fishing net was stuck on the reef. That became the site of their second cleanup on the first weekend of January.
On Feb. 7, Surfrider Foundation and Trilogy took over 40 volunteers to Mala Wharf to remove fishing line, bottles, cans, carpet, mooring lines and fishing nets. They even used a 100-pound lift bag to remove part of a sunken boat that had been shifting in surf and damaging the reef.
Volunteers cleaned the outer reef, inner reef and the beach, where they removed tires, building materials, marine debris, bottles and other rubbish.
During the Blue ‘Aina event, volunteers also tested the water for acidity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, phosphates and nitrates.
Blue ‘Aina events will continue the first weekend of each month from 9 a.m. to noon. There is a suggested donation of $10. Half of the fee goes to Surfrider, and 50 percent supports reef awareness programs. The March cleanup may be held at Mala or Puamana Park.
Lunch and refreshments are provided. To sign up, or to report a reef in distress, call Trilogy Excursions at 808 661-4743, extension 3.
We can't think of a nicer way to say 'thank you to Maui' for being such a special home to those of us lucky enough to live here. If you are visiting and want to help, call the nice folks over at Trilogy. We guarantee you will feel better by the end of the day knowing you have done a small part to help keep Maui alive.
Warm alohas from Sunny and Richard.
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