History of the site

Hōlanikū, or Kure Atoll, is more than 1,500 miles northwest of Honolulu and is the northernmost atoll of the Hawaiian archipelago. Therefore, Kure Atoll is the eldest in the chain of islands and atolls that make up Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, commonly known as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. These islands are recognized culturally as the kūpuna (ancestral) islands. Oikonos has a long relationship with the State of Hawaii and Kure Atoll Conservancy, the land managers and stewards of this refuge.

Context

Our work at Kure Atoll focuses on international bycatch and plastic pollution. Currently, our partners on Kure Atoll are key collaborators in the Winged Ambassadors program with the goal of teaching STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and ocean stewardship through the eyes of albatross. Even students that live far from the ocean are interested and feel empathy for the large majestic albatrosses and their lives in a remote archipelago. This program is unique in the world as we bring real “boluses” thrown up by Kure’s albatrosses into school programs to learn that our trash ends up in the ocean and even the stomachs of marine animals. The program’s impact has been a great success, reaching over 360,000 students in 47 U.S. states and 38 countries. Educators can participate in our bolus program by contributing data collected from Kure’s albatross boluses.

Also with our Kure Atoll partners, beginning in 2012, we led research to GPS track Black-footed Albatross parents to understand movement patterns and where they overlap with longline fisheries and marine debris. We discovered the importance of the western regions of the North Pacific for these large albatross nesting colonies near the dateline. In addition to the U.S., movement data identified that Japan and Russia have responsibility for albatross conservation. This rare tracking data is publicly available and has been incorporated into many large scale research questions by partners.