by Serene Gunnison
Photo by Chris Amundson
SHARKastics’ Cheryl King and her dog, Tauzer, lead monthly cleanups of marine debris at Ka‘ehu Bay. She founded the project in 2003 to examine the impact of plastics and other trash on ocean wildlife.
On the fourth Sunday of each month, Cheryl King of SHARKastics hosts a community beach cleanup at Kaehu Bay in Wailuku.
“What do I do with this metal?”
“I think that’s part of a golf ball.”
“I’ve got some linoleum.”
“Fiberglass, over here.”
It’s a Sunday morning, and two dozen volunteers are busy sorting through pounds of debris. Forty-four bins are spread out beneath a large canvas tent, each labeled to categorize every type of trash imaginable. The bins soon fill up with plastic lighters, derelict buoys, faded aluminum cans and hunks of styrofoam – all collected from the shoreline 100 meters beyond the tent. This scene unfolds regularly at Kaehu and elsewhere on island as SHARKastics, an impact term King coined in 2003, works to clean up Maui beaches.
A combination of the words “shark” and “plastics,” SHARKastics is King’s educational organization and passion project that underscores the effects of marine pollution and debris ingestion by ocean wildlife. King, a dedicated Maui conservationist, founded SHARKastics in 2003 after observing marine debris riddled with bite marks. Taking action, she began hosting SHARKastics beach cleanups and awareness events and has been cleaning up Kaehu monthly since 2012.
The Kaehu event isn’t your average beach cleanup. Rather than tossing all the collected trash into the dumpster, King and her team of volunteers diligently sort and count every last piece of debris – a task King says “is like Groundhog Day.” Every month, she finds the same type of debris over and over, like lighters, toothbrushes, single-use plastic and derelict fishing gear. Everything gets weighed and the sorting begins, followed by a detailed 
accounting of each item by her knowledgeable team.
But before any of that can happen, King and her volunteers must scour the shoreline.
Twenty five volunteers spread out across Kaehu’s 4,000-foot cobblestone shoreline, armed with gloves, plastic buckets and grain bags. Before setting out, King tells the group that the beach is “relatively clean.” Yet sifting through piles of driftwood revealed myriad marine debris: fishing nets, weed trimmer lines, a yellow chunk of plastic with faded Korean letters and, sure enough, a few toothbrushes and a handful of plastic lighters.
The deluge isn’t surprising. Kaehu’s location makes it a magnet for marine debris. Tucked between the hamlets of Paukukalo and Waiehu, Kaehu Bay faces northeast – directly exposed to the tradewinds that hammer Maui’s leeward sides. The fierce breezes push marine debris from near and far onto the Kaehu shoreline.
To make matters worse, Kaehu is located between the Waiehu and Iao Streams, which can send land-based debris careening into the ocean, eventually washing up at Kaehu. The entire stretch of Wailuku’s northeast-facing coastline is vulnerable to marine debris pollution, but it is especially painful at Kaehu.
Photo by Cheryl King/Kaho‘olawe Island Reserve Commission
After the collected debris is sorted, some items are used for art projects or otherwise upcycled rather than adding to the landfill. Pieces with noticeable bite marks (bottom right) are stored for further research.
Centuries before plastic was even a glimmer in someone’s eye, Kaehu was a playground for the alii (royalty), revered for its surfing spots and freshwater spring, which was believed to have healing powers. Bountiful wetlands, taro patches and fishponds defined the landscape. Monk seals would haul onto Kaehu’s warm, dark sands, and turtles would nest here frequently – and occasionally still do. Ancient cultural sites like shrines, agricultural terraces and habitation structures continue to be discovered in the area.
Kaehu is now in the hands of a non-profit organization of the same name, which is working to restore the area’s natural resources and perpetuate traditional Hawaiian cultural activities – keeping the coastline free from plastic pollution is essential to that mission.
The Kaehu cleanups attract a varied crowd, each with a different reason for being there. Twyla, a visitor from Canada, makes a point to attend a SHARKastics cleanup with her family each time she is on Maui. “[The cleanup] reminds us, as tourists, not to overuse plastic here,” she says. “It keeps us mindful. It really promotes community. Instead of coming and using, you give back to Maui.”
Wyatt from Wailuku and 10-year-old son, Koa, have particpated in several cleanups over the years. They fish and dive from the point with Koa’s cousin, who lives just up the street. “It’d be nice to try to clean up where we live,” said Koa.
As Twyla fills up two buckets’ worth of fishing line and other debris, Wyatt is on his hands and knees, unearthing a rusted truck axle from the sand. He and his son begin the arduous process of dragging the axle across the beach and up to the sorting zone.
After about an hour and a half of cleaning, sorting gets underway. It’s like a backward apocalyptic scavenger hunt as volunteers search for the appropriate bins for each piece of debris. There’s a category for just about everything, from PVC pipes to toys and grooming tools. But the most intriguing is the SHARKastics bin, reserved for plastic pieces with visible bite marks. Already, there are several pieces in the bin.
“We don’t know exactly what animals are eating [the plastic],” King says as she holds up a blue jug shredded with bite marks. “It’s a multitude – fish, turtles, birds, sharks.”
King says she started collecting bite-ridden pieces over 20 years ago to decipher which animals munch and what they’re mostly munching. So far, white seems to be the debris color of choice.
“I have this giant warehouse full of samples from each cleanup, thinking this is going to make a great research project someday. It’s kind of stupid,” she said with a laugh. “I haven’t had time to analyze it, so I keep collecting. I’m just waiting for some brilliant person to help with all this.”
In the meantime, King aims to raise awareness about marine debris pollution. In this endeavor, she has been wildly successful.
One helper named Bruce has been volunteering with SHARKastics since he moved to Maui from Los Angeles eight years ago. “I’ve grown so much to be aware of trash and avoid plastic, and that’s because of this,” he said, gesturing to the sorting party bustling around him.
Next month, the shoreline will likely be littered again with marine debris, and the process will begin again.
Since 2013, the SHARKastics team has removed more than 33 tons of debris from Maui Nui coastlines with no plans to stop.
While some may consider plastic pollution an unremitting global crisis – a lost cause – King and her volunteer army remain committed to making Maui, our neighbor islands and the ocean healthier for all living things – one piece of trash at a time.
