As part of the 27th annual International Coastal Clean-up and Hawaii's Get the Drift and Bag It event, Pacific Whale Foundation will lead a cleanup of Maalaea Harbor from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Volunteers will meet in front of Pacific Whale Foundation's Ocean Store at the Maalaea Harbor Shops at 9 a.m.
Gloves, water and trash bags will be provided. To reduce trash, participants are asked to bring a reusable water bottle. Pacific Whale Foundation will provide filtered water for refills. Immediately following the cleanup, volunteers will be treated to free pizza by Porto.
The Maalaea Harbor cleanup is coordinated by Pacific Whale Foundation Conservation Manager Lauren Campbell, who also leads weekly beach cleanups on Maui and is spearheading a monofilament collection and recycling program to keep fishing lines out of the ocean.
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Pacific Whale Foundation Conservation Manager Lauren Campbell cleans the shoreline near Maalaea Harbor. The organization will lead a cleanup of Maalaea Harbor on Saturday.
"All of these efforts are about preventing marine debris," said Campbell. "Marine debris is the leading killer of marine mammals and causes countless deaths and injuries of other marine wildlife. It is something that we can work together to prevent."
"Just offshore from Maalaea Harbor is an area where green sea turtles feed on limu and where humpback whales mate and give birth in the winter, so your efforts to remove trash from the harbor and shoreline will truly help local marine wildlife," said Merrill Kaufman, education manager at Pacific Whale Foundation. "The free pizza lunch from Porto is a way of saying thank you for making a difference."
Volunteers are asked to register in advance by calling 249-8811, ext.1, or email lauren campbell@pacificwhale.org.
