Pacific Whale Foundation received an outreach and education grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Marine Debris Program in the summer of 2016. As a recipient of this grant, it’s our goal to:
- Educate the public about marine debris and its effects on the environment.
- Remove marine debris and cigarette butts from Maui’s coastline.
- Inform people on Maui’s tobacco free beaches and parks bill; it is illegal to smoke on any of Maui County’s parks, beaches and recreational areas.
Since awarded this grant, our Research and Conservation staff have provided outreach and education about this important topic to 310,920 members of the public and 17,603 keiki. We have also hosted several educational events such as Ocean Camp, where Maui keiki get hands-on experience with a certified Marine Naturalist, and hosting the Maui screening of the documentary A Plastic Ocean at the historic Iao Theatre to raise awareness about single-use plastics.
We also have an outreach station located at popular Ulua Beach, where beachgoers can talk to our onsite Naturalist about marine debris, tobacco use, or general ocean health. By personally bringing the information to the public, we hope to raise awareness and encourage a change in behavior when it comes to marine debris.
Through various clean-up events and ongoing research projects, the Research Team has collected 53,392 pieces of debris since 2013, of which 21,468 were cigarette butts! At the Get the Drift and Bag it! harbor clean up on International Coastal Clean-Up day, volunteers picked up 15,356 cigarette butts. With a recently announced extension to this grant, Pacific Whale Foundation will continue educating the public on marine debris and cleaning our coastlines through January 2018.
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