The FHB Foundation grant of $25,000 will support Hawaiʻi Pacific University’s Center for Marine Debris Research in Honolulu, providing critical funding after federal science programs were cut under the Trump administration.
Center director Jennifer Lynch said the award will help keep efforts on track to remove large, foreign derelict fishing gear that harms Hawaiʻi’s reefs, entangles marine life, fouls vessel gear, and imposes significant costs on the state. She called the First Hawaiian Bank funding a timely bridge while federal grants wind down.
FHB Foundation grant supports debris removal and recycling
In announcing the award, First Hawaiian Bank Foundation President Cameron Nekota said Hawaiʻi’s ocean is central to island life and that protecting it is vital to community health. He praised the center for tackling a complex challenge by extracting debris and finding ways to repurpose materials, which he said helps preserve natural resources for future generations.
The center’s work includes three core efforts highlighted in a recent magazine feature: removing and analyzing debris, recycling portions of recovered fishing nets into construction products and other uses, and leveraging collected data to push foreign fishing fleets to curb practices that send tons of plastic into the Pacific and onto Hawaiʻi’s reefs and beaches.
DFG Bounty project to pull 25,000 more pounds at sea
The new funding will pay commercial fishers in the DFG Bounty project to intercept an estimated 25,000 pounds of derelict gear offshore before it can damage nearshore habitats. To date, participating fishers have retrieved 207,064 pounds and returned it to Oʻahu for proper handling and disposal, Lynch said.
In June, the center received a $9,000 Pāpio Grant from the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation’s Holomua Marine Initiative Fund to bolster the bounty program, which compensates eligible commercial operators for removing abandoned gear from Hawaiʻi waters. The center has also applied for additional support from the Ocean Conservancy.
