Massive Molasses Spill Devastates Honolulu Marine Life

Once again, man screws up, and utterly trashes an environment. Granted, this was as accident, the company responsible needs to step up a bit further than "Oops, our bad, sorry. Won't happen again."

Massive Molasses Spill Devastates Honolulu Marine Life

"Everything down there is dead." That's one stunning quote from about the devastating damage that's been done to the marine life off Honolulu's Sand Island by 233,000 gallons of molasses that were spilled into Honolulu harbor on Monday. Gary Gill, deputy director of Hawaii's Environmental Health Division of the Health Department, tells the news station that "this is the worst environmental damage to sea life that I have come across."

"It was shocking because the entire bottom is covered with dead fish. Small fish, crabs, mole crabs, eels. Every type of fish that you don't usually see, but now they're dead. Now they're just laying there. Every single thing is dead. We're talking in the hundreds, thousands. I didn't see one single living thing underwater."

Because the spill happened in a harbor and there's less circulation than in the open ocean, it could be months or possibly years before the molasses is completely washed away, David Field, a visiting assistant professor of marine sciences at Hawaii Pacific University, tells the station.

I've been to Honalulu, family vacation as a child. It's burned into my memory as a spectacularly beautiful gem, a place that is the epitome of beauty. We swam Waikiki Beach, and I remember snorkeling the beach a ways out, and seeing all manner of gorgeous marine life around me, and even had a sea turtle swim alongside me for a bit. Seeing the pictures from underwater, it really pains me to see that. I have a friend on Oahu who says it's much worse in person than the images on the news show, it's a true disaster for the ecosystem.

And how exactly does that amount just get "spilled" by "accident"....

reply to post by Nyiah


So its safe to say that marine life doesn't have a sweet tooth like us...

and...... Those C*** S******

Not the first time for a huge molasses spill, it reminded me of this:

Boston Molasses Disaster

but this is far different being in a marine environment. Star & flag for you nice post.

haven123
And how exactly does that amount just get "spilled" by "accident"....

My friend said local news says it was from a pipeline hooked up to the tanks of the ship, and that the pipeline had hole develop, resulting the spill. If that's the case, it's gross negligence, that stuff is supposed t be inspected & maintained. I'm off to google about the cause to see if there's any further info.

Edit: Yeah, the search results cite that it was a hole in the pipeline. Here's one from ABC News

The brown, sugary substance spilled Monday from a pipe used to load molasses from storage tanks to ships sailing to California. The shipping company, Matson Navigation Co., repaired the hole and the pipe stopped leaking Tuesday morning, spokesman Jeff Hull said.

Wow. I know that adding molasses to sugar, such as brown sugar, slows the processing of the sugar by the body. I wonder why the molasses is killing these fish. Even harmless things in large concentrations can be deadly to the ecosystem. People do not realize that. Human urine when dilluted and added as fertilizer to plants is very good, if the person is eating mostly organic, but if you pee on a plant, it is strong enough to kill it.

I suppose it is worth my time to try to find why the molasses is doing this. S&F

Video of news report and some underwater footage from Hawaii News Now: here.

rickymouse
Wow. I know that adding molasses to sugar, such as brown sugar, slows the processing of the sugar by the body. I wonder why the molasses is killing these fish. Even harmless things in large concentrations can be deadly to the ecosystem. People do not realize that. Human urine when dilluted and added as fertilizer to plants is very good, if the person is eating mostly organic, but if you pee on a plant, it is strong enough to kill it.

I suppose it is worth my time to try to find why the molasses is doing this. S&F

They're suffocating because they can't breathe. The NPR article said it's sucking the oxygen out of the water, but according to other articles, and as I understand how gills work, it's clogging up their gills. They're suffocating either way.

reply to post by Nyiah


My parents are there right now on vacation, I just called my dad and he had no clue this happened.

He said they were on the beach in Honolulu yesterday and didn't notice anything wrong, he is going to find out where this happened and go take a peak. I will update if he is able to find it and take pictures of this mess!

I live here and my wife is a pollution responder in the Coast Guard. She was called to the scene to do the investigation on this one. She took a few pics. It's hard to tell from these, but you need to realize that the water there is normally crystal clear.




People need to understand that this type of thing happens almost every day here. Mainlanders see Hawaii as a place to come snorkel and sit on the beach, but for those of us that live here it's a never ending cycle of decay and ruin.

We have a water main break literally every day on Oahu. Sewage is constantly spilling into the waters from hotels downtown. It takes an hour to get anywhere because the traffic is so congested. The state is currently pushing to develop 4000+ homes on the very last agricultural land on Oahu.

No one understands that the grocery stores here have NO extra stock in the back room anymore. Everything we use here has to be shipped from somewhere else, and if the Matson port were to get shut down for even one day, the shelves at the stores would literally be empty. We are one step away from the Dark Ages here.

No one cares about the sorry state of the environment here. As long as Caesar keeps handing out the bread and circuses (beaches and hotels), no one will see how close this state is to falling apart. Of course, being 2,000 miles from the nearest landmass it's easy to forget about us.

That's a shame. I've seen that harbor up close. It's beautiful, clear, pristine. At least it was in '77 and '84.

reply to post by ZeroReady


That's why you get off that island, and move to Kauai, specifically Hanalei Bay

Maui and Kauai are the only two islands I'll visit.

At least it's Only molasses.

It's organic and will be easily broken down and washed away in time. It's not like the oil and corexit spilled in the Gulf of Mexico by BP. The damage here will heal much faster with much less damaging consequences.

Because of this to me this story is almost trivial and real Non issue.

reply to post by JohnPhoenix


Look I agree that a chemical spill would have been much, much worse than molasses, but you can't downplay this. It's a big deal and it will have lasting detrimental effects on the harbor. I'm predicting a huge algae bloom in the harbor, which could decimate the already flimsy local ecosystem.

And it isn't just this one isolated event. Like I said above, this type of thing happens all the time. More often than not, it's sewage water from the hotels that's discharged into the waters. It all adds up.

We live in a fragile environment here, and no one seems to care that we are literally destroying these islands.

Madness.

reply to post by JohnPhoenix


It can take years for this to go away because of the way Honolulu Harbor is situated. There is very little current, and not much wind to push it out to sea. And when it does move out to sea it's going to hit the life there, including the coral.

reply to post by ZeroReady


It is hard to believe we are exploiting and destroying such a paradise. I suppose after it is unlivable there, they will give it back to the native people saying they have done such a humane thing for the people that we took the land from. Soon the farms will be gone and the Islands will be completely reliant on the economy.

reply to post by rickymouse


Hawaii is only slightly better than some of the worse states on the mainland infrastructure wise, due to money problems they have. Their economy is dependent on the military, and tourism as their two biggest income makers. Guess what has dropped significantly with the recession.

rickymouse
reply to post by ZeroReady

 

I suppose after it is unlivable there, they will give it back to the native people saying they have done such a humane thing for the people that we took the land from.

Negative. The lands here will never be given back to the kanaka. For one, the US govt is doing everything in their power to completely erase the Hawaiian people and culture from existence. For two, Hawaii is the "Lynch pin of the Pacific" and whoever controls Hawaii controls the waters on this side of the planet.

As the US moves towards becoming a Pacific nation, and moves away from the Middle East, per the President's plan, Hawaii will become even more important militarily.

Not to mention Monsanto has the largest concentration of research GMO's on the planet here.

No, I'm afraid the people of these islands will never have their home returned to them.

reply to post by ZeroReady


I'm sorry to hear that you have to deal with Monsanto there. I suppose the pollen from their experiments gets on people's luggage and contaminates the rest of the planet. Then they can charge everyone for using their patents in the future.

I have no interest in going to Hawaii anymore, Maybe thirty years ago it would have not been so bad.

reply to post by Nyiah


Horrible, just gut wrenching. This heartbreaking news makes me think about the dangers and toxicity of GMO Molasses.