Volunteer Divers Remove 8 Tons of Debris From Kaneohe Bay in Record Cleanup Effort

Over 200 volunteer divers removed more than 8 tons of debris from Kaneohe Bay last Saturday in what organizers called the largest single-day underwater cleanup in Hawaii history.

The effort, organized by Oahu-based nonprofit Dive Against Debris Hawaii, targeted a 2-mile stretch of reef between Coconut Island and the Heeia Kea pier. Volunteers pulled out shopping carts, tires, fishing nets, cinder blocks, and an estimated 3,000 pounds of derelict fishing line tangled in coral heads.

“Kaneohe Bay has some of the healthiest coral reefs in the main Hawaiian islands, but they’ve been slowly suffocating under decades of accumulated junk,” said expedition leader Dr. Maya Kapahu, a marine biologist at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. “Today we gave those reefs room to breathe.”

The debris was sorted on shore by type for recycling or proper disposal. Notably, volunteers recovered over 400 lead fishing weights, which can leach toxic metals into the marine environment. A local artist collective claimed several hundred pounds of recovered glass and metal to repurpose into public art installations.

Dive Against Debris Hawaii has conducted monthly cleanups around Oahu since 2019 but had never attempted a Kaneohe Bay operation at this scale. The logistics required coordination with the Marine Corps Base Hawaii, which controls waterfront access on the bay’s eastern shore, and the Division of Aquatic Resources, which issued special permits for work near protected coral colonies.

Dr. Kapahu said follow-up monitoring dives will assess coral recovery over the next year. Early observations suggest several patches of rice coral and lobe coral that had been partially smothered by debris are already showing signs of new growth.