Impact of Marine Debris in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

Impact of Marine Debris in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Vanessa Rodgers Department of Educational Technology University of Hawaii Manoa Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A vrodgers@hawaii.edu Abstract: The coral reefs and marine life of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands represent nearly 70% of the United States coral reef system and are currently endangered from multiple stressors One of these stressors, marine debris, is completely avoidable because it is brought about by human impact Most of the debris consists of large amounts of derelict fishing gear that accumulates and causes significant damage to shallow coral reefs, and is a persistent threat to wildlife This instructional module delivered information about the impact of marine debris in an easy to navigate website that also utilized videos and images to demonstrate the concepts Survey results indicated that almost all participants enjoyed the module and one indicated they would like to expand on this project in their PhD program All participants showed an improvement from the pretest to the posttest Introduction NOAA defines marine debris as “any persistent solid material that is manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or abandoned into the marine environment or the Great Lakes” (NOAA, 2011) Marine debris reaches the ocean from various points including from the land via storm drains, streams and rivers, and from boats leaving behind debris The impact of marine debris is diverse as it is not only an eyesore, but it damages natural habitats It also poses hazards to wildlife via entanglement and ingestion Plastics are persistent organic pollutants that can transport organic contaminants, and are a major source of debris killing thousands of sea life and seabirds annually from ingestion This is likely due to garbage patches that consist of small bits of plastic debris probably mistaken for food The “eastern garbage patch” lies within the North Pacific Subtropical High, an area between Hawaii and California Marine debris is not only a problem for the wildlife It also affects human health and safety Two methods are used to determine the amount and deposition areas for cleanup The first method is called the manta tow, (Dameron, Parke, Albins, and Brainard, 2007) and consists of towing two swimmers behind a boat while they look for debris The second method is using a buddy swim system, which uses a grid system so the swimmers know the direction and how far to swim This method is commonly used in lagoon areas The Northwestern Hawaiian Island coral reefs and marine life represent nearly 70% of the United States coral reef system and are endangered from multiple stressors One stressor in particular, marine debris, is caused by human impact and is completely avoidable The most avoidable stressor is marine debris, which consists largely of derelict fishing gear that accumulates and causes significant damage to shallow coral reefs, and is a persistent threat to wildlife Large amounts of marine debris pose as serious problem to the world’s only living tropical, and now critically endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal (Boland and Donohue 2003) The large amounts of marine debris present in shallow reefs near the beach areas where monk seals normally haul out to sleep and give birth are causing injury and death to the monk seal Furthermore, the threatened sea turtles also use these islands for feeding, nesting, and resting Background Students enrolled in the University of Hawaii’s Educational Technology program are adept to learning in a variety of ways These students are more familiar with educational methods, and are perfect candidates to test a module about marine debris in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands The plan was to develop a web-based training module, created via Weebly, that was designed to educate the learner about the duress the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands coral reef system is experiencing The ARC’s Model of Motivational Design was utilized to gain the interest of the participant (Keller, 2008) Also, images and YouTube videos were used to help gain attention of the learner Relevance was achieved by presenting future usefulness of the subject matter Confidence and satisfaction were gained because the learner could create useful feedback Success was be measured by collecting qualitative data from the graduate students of the University of Hawaii’s Educational Technology program in the form of attitudinal surveys and a one-on-one interview Retrospective surveys provided evaluation from the graduate student’s attitude towards the learning module Responsibility for the marine debris lies with all of us We must begin to take appropriate measures to lessen the impact of the human footprint in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands However, clean up of marine debris lies with several organizations, (Donohue, 2003) Some of these organizations are federal and some are private, but now there is a new Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act in place coordinating federal activities The Interagency Marine Debris Coordinating Committee is co-chaired by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) The Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act, along with every person doing their part maintaining a Hawaii free of debris will go a long way in sustainability of the environment Methods A web-based module was developed to test the development of an instructional design module about marine debris in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands The website contained embedded, pre- and post-test surveys, and embedded videos and photos to provide instruction and interaction Instructional strategies The website was designed so the user could work through the module with ease of navigation and multi-modality An introduction provided an overview of the module The remaining pages each covered a section of the impact of marine debris on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, as well as future impacts generated by the 2011 Japan tsunami Because people learn in different ways, the researcher used Multiple Intelligence method with videos and visual aids to assist in learning the material The researcher also created a website with visual appeal by using white space, keeping the tests similar in formatting, and using appropriate images for the subject being taught Universal Design for Learning(UDL) recognizes that instruction needs to be customized and adjusted to fit everyone, these UDL strategies were also used in the creation of the website Technologies All instruction and data collection took place through a twelve page Weebly website with links to additional resources as needed Weebly, a webpage creation site, was selected for module development in order to provide the greatest ease of access, a wide range of drag and drop elements, and time for the researcher to focus on content rather than on website development Population Students enrolled in the University of Hawaii’s Educational Technology program are adept to learning in a variety of ways The students are more familiar with educational technology methods, and were perfect candidates to test the researcher’s module about marine debris in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands because they could point out areas needed for improvement A call for participation was sent by email to students active in the Educational Technology program, with the link to enter the website The participants did not need support in using the technologies involved, so no instruction was given in this regard Data Collection Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using pre, post and exit surveys to determine the effectiveness of the instructional module The surveys were built in Google documents and embedded in the Weebly website To ensure that the surveys were anonymous, participants were asked to create and input a code on the pre, post and exit surveys Likert scale questions compared pre, embedded and post-test understanding of the marine debris project and its elements There were seventeen respondents in the data collection phase However, out of the seventeen respondents only fourteen completed both the pre- and post-tests One out of the seventeen completed the post-test, but not the pre-test Two out of the seventeen completed the pre-test but not the post-test The results were still considered to be sufficient for comparison Results The fourteen participants that responded to both the pre- and post-tests reported that they had a better understanding of the effects of marine debris and the efforts done to help decrease its impact Furthermore, participant’s numbers four, seven, and eleven demonstrated as having the greatest improvement from pretest to post-test (see Figure 1) After a closer look at the data, it was apparent that questions five and six demonstrated that participants had little understanding of the “best methods for reducing costs when addressing large-scale marine debris problems,” and the “two survey methods used to detect marine debris” prior to starting the instructional module These two questions saw the greatest improvement in the post-test (See Figure 2) On the same note, question two saw the least gain between pretest and post-test due to the already high score on the pretest Discussion It appears that all participants benefited from the additional instruction provided by the website (Figure 1) Results also indicated that almost all participants had only nominal familiarity with the impact of marine debris in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands The feedback and scores from the majority of participants indicated they felt the website was well designed and effective in its delivery of content The participants felt that the site was easy to navigate, and was helpful in their understanding of the impact that marine debris has on the Hawaiian Islands Conclusion Marine debris in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands remains a problem for wildlife and human sustainability as it greatly impacts the coral reef system Therefore, education about the impact of marine debris is essential toward reducing the problem The connection between the coral reef system and sustainability is key to understanding the impact of marine debris It is vital that additional and ongoing support is provided via the Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act However, there is room for improvement Overall the researcher concluded that people not understand the impact of marine debris or the efforts required to clean the debris It is essential to teach people early in life the impacts of marine debris so they gain a better understanding of why we need to properly dispose of trash Furthermore, there is a need to teach the methods to cleaning marine debris so that people understand the difficulty of such an enormous task Lastly, it is imperative to teach people not only how marine debris affects the environment, but them as well A future module should encompass all of these suggestions, and be given to students in elementary school References Morishige, C., Donohue, M., Flint, E., Swenson, C., & Woolaway, C (2007) Factors affecting marine debris deposition at French Frigate Shoals, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument, 1990-2006 Marine Pollution Bulletin, 54, 11621169 Retrieved September 8, 2011, from Academic Search Premier database Dameron, O J., Parke, M., Albins, M A., & Brainard, R (2007) Marine debris accumulation on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands: An examination of rates and processes Marine Pollution Bulletin, 54, 423 – 433 Retrieved September 8, 2011, from Academic Search Premier database Boland, R C., & Donohue, M J (2003) Marine debris accumulation in the nearshore marine habitat of the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, Monachus schauinslandi 1999 – 2001 Marine Pollution Bulletin, 46, 1385 – 1394 Retrieved September 8, 2011, from Academic Search Premier database Donohue, M J (2003) How multiagency partnerships can successfully address largescale pollution problems: a Hawaii case study Marine Pollution Bulletin, 46, 700 – 702 Retrieved September 8, 2011, from Academic Search Premier database Nations First Marine Debris Action Plan Implemented in Hawaii (2010, January 12) Retrieved from http://noaanews.noaa.gov Retrieved September 8, 2011, from Academic Search Premier database Reducing Marine Debris is Worldwide Challenge (2011, August 30) The Honolulu Star Advertiser Retrieved from http://staradvertiser.com Retrieved September 8, 2011, from Academic Search Premier database  ... participants had only nominal familiarity with the impact of marine debris in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands The feedback and scores from the majority of participants indicated they felt the website was... the impact of marine debris or the efforts required to clean the debris It is essential to teach people early in life the impacts of marine debris so they gain a better understanding of why we... Conclusion Marine debris in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands remains a problem for wildlife and human sustainability as it greatly impacts the coral reef system Therefore, education about the impact of