Kamilo Beach (literally, ''the twisting'' or ''swirling currents''Clark, John R. K. (1985), ''Beaches of the Big Island'', University of Hawaii Press, , p. 69 in Hawaiian), is a beach located on the southeast coast of the island of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. It is known for its accumulation of plastic

marine debris Marine debris, also known as marine litter, is human-created waste that has deliberately or accidentally been released in a sea or ocean. Floating oceanic debris tends to accumulate at the center of gyres and on coastlines, frequently washing ...

from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

History

In ancient times, Kamilo Beach was a location where

Native Hawaiians Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii ...

would go to find large

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

logs that drifted ashore from the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

, which they used for building

dugout canoes A dugout canoe or simply dugout is a boat made from a hollowed tree. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. ''Monoxylon'' (''μονόξυλον'') (pl: ''monoxyla'') is Greek – ''mono-'' (single) + '' ξύλον xylon'' (t ...

. It was also a location where those who were lost at sea might eventually wash ashore.

Description

Kamilo Beach is approximately long, and is located on the remote southeast coast of the Kaū District on the island of Hawaii, at coordinates . There are no paved roads to the beach. This beach, situated on a lower lava terrace, is a storm beach. It was formed by the deposit of large amounts of sand blown by prevailing winds. At the point of Kamilo, waves have cut a large indentation, creating a variety of rocky points, ponds, and channels. Most of these are exposed during low tides, and are awash during high tides. The backshore at Kamilo contains such vegetation as

naupaka ''Scaevola'' is a genus of flowering plants in the '' Goodenia'' family, Goodeniaceae. It consists of more than 130 species, with the center of diversity being Australia and Polynesia. There are around 80 species in Australia, occurring througho ...

, milo, and

ironwood Ironwood is a common name for many woods or plants that have a reputation for hardness, or specifically a wood density that is heavier than water (approximately 1000 kg/m3, or 62 pounds per cubic foot), although usage of the name ironwood in E ...

Debris

The beach is an accumulation zone for

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

trash. The debris is forced onto the beach by constant trade winds and converging

ocean current An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of sea water generated by a number of forces acting upon the water, including wind, the Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbeling, and temperature and salinity differences. Depth contours, s ...

s. The debris is situated on the narrow, crescent-shaped strip of white sand, formed along the inland border of this area. The accumulated garbage that covers Kamilo Beach and an adjacent 2.8 miles (4.5 km) of shoreline consists of 90% plastic. Although some of the items comprising the trash are household products, the vast majority by weight are

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

related such as nets, rope, cones used to trap hagfish, spacers used in oyster farming,

buoy A buoy () is a floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents. Types Navigational buoys * Race course marker buoys are used for buoy racing, the most prevalent form of yac ...

s, crates, and baskets. Much of the debris is made from plastic pellets, either pre-production nurdles or pellets created from larger plastic items breaking down into smaller pieces. In 2020, Hawaii's Department of Health listed the beach as impaired based on

plastic pollution Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are catego ...

, which is the first time that any Hawaiian waters.

Environmental impact

Wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...

in the area has suffered significant damage due to the on- and off-shore garbage. Fishing debris, such as discarded fishing nets and

lines Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Arts ...

, drowns,

strangles Strangles (equine distemper) is a contagious upper respiratory tract infection of horses and other equines caused by a Gram-positive bacterium, ''Streptococcus equi''. As a result, the lymph nodes swell, compressing the pharynx, larynx, and tr ...

, and traps birds and

marine mammal Marine mammals are aquatic mammals that rely on the ocean and other marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as seals, whales, manatees, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reli ...

s. Some types of plastic and their constituents, such as

bisphenol A Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical compound primarily used in the manufacturing of various plastics. It is a colourless solid which is soluble in most common organic solvents, but has very poor solubility in water. BPA is produced on an industrial s ...

bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate, diethylhexyl phthalate, diisooctyl phthalate, DEHP; incorrectly — dioctyl phthalate, DIOP) is an organic compound with the formula C6H4(CO2C8H17)2. DEHP is the most common member of the cl ...

, and

polystyrene Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It is a ...

leach

carcinogen A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that promotes carcinogenesis (the formation of cancer). This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes. Several radioactive substan ...

ic or poisonous chemicals when they break down. Others absorb

toxin A toxin is a naturally occurring organic poison produced by metabolic activities of living cells or organisms. Toxins occur especially as a protein or conjugated protein. The term toxin was first used by organic chemist Ludwig Brieger (1849– ...

s such as

DDT Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. ...

and

polychlorinated biphenyl Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1979 and internationally by t ...

s from their surroundings. These toxins are absorbed by animals when consumed.

Cleanup efforts

Multiple community-based cleanup efforts have taken place on Kamilo Beach in recent years. Prior to these efforts, the debris was high in some places. Most of the efforts to clean up marine debris from Kamilo Beach have been led by the Hawaii Wildlife Fund and their countless beach cleanup volunteers, however other groups, including Imi Pono No Ka 'Aina, Hawaii Rainbow Gatherings, "CITO" geocachers, Sierra Club Hawaii and Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii have also helped coordinate occasional events. In 2003, the Hawaii Wildlife Fund organized 100 volunteers and removed over 50 tons (45 metric tonnes) of fishing nets and other marine debris from the beach. See also: In November 2007, Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii volunteers removed more than 4 million pieces of plastic from Kamilo Beach.

References

External links

Hawai'i Wildlife FundBBC News videoBeach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawai`i
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120915222536/http://www.algalita.org/pdf/amrf%20mar%2008%20nslttr%20web.pdf Environmental research study on marine plastic debrisbr>University of Hawai'i Environmental CenterGreat Garbage Patch siteKahea Hawaiian Environmental Alliance

How the oceans can clean themselves
– TED Talk Beaches of Hawaii (island) Ocean pollution Pollution in the United States