FHB Foundation Awards $25,000 Grant to Center for Marine Debris Research

Funds come at crucial time for the Honolulu center that aims to recycle tons of fishing nets and other debris removed from oceans around Hawaiʻi. Center was a victim of slashed federal funding for science programs.

The First Hawaiian Bank Foundation has awarded a $25,000 grant to the Center for Marine Debris Research at Hawaiʻi Pacific University in Honolulu, helping to bridge a funding gap for the organization after federal science programs were cut under the Trump administration.

”This grant allows us to continue removing large-scale, foreign derelict fishing gear (DFG) that damages Hawaiʻi’s reefs, entangles wildlife, snags on ships’ running gear, and incurs great economic costs to Hawaiʻi,” said Jennifer Lynch, director at the center.

“We are so thankful for the generous First Hawaiian Bank funding. It is coming at critical time to bridge a gap in funding while federal grants are coming to a close.”

In announcing the award, Cameron Nekota, president of the First Hawaiian Bank Foundation, said “Hawaiʻi’s ocean is central to our way of life, and protecting it is essential to the health of our communities. The Center for Marine Debris Research is tackling a complex environmental challenge by not only removing debris from our waters but finding ways to give those materials a new purpose. Their efforts help preserve our natural resources and leave the islands a better place for our children.”

The center was the focus of a Hawaii Business Magazine cover story in the May 2026 issue: The Trash on Hawai‘i’s Beaches Tells a Global Story – Hawaii Business Magazine

That article highlighted the center’s three-pronged approach: debris removal and analysis, recycling of some fishing nets into construction materials and other items, and using collected data to convince foreign fishing fleets to halt practices littering the ocean with tons of plastics that end up snagged on coral reefs and scattered across shorelines in Hawaiʻi and throughout the Pacific.

Specifically, the funding will pay commercial fishermen in the DFG Bounty project to remove approximately 25,000 pounds of debris at-sea before it can harm nearshore habitats. To date, the fishers in this project have removed 207,064 pounds, bringing it back to Oʻahu for proper handling and disposal, Lynch said.

In June, the CMDR received a $9,000 Pāpio Grant from the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation’s Holomua Marine Initiative Fund to support the bounty project. Under the program, eligible commercial fishing operators are paid to remove abandoned fishing gear from Hawaiʻi’s waters.

The center has also applied for a grant from the Ocean Conservancy.