Hurricane Lala appeared to leave a path of destruction in its wake at the remote atolls of Papaha­nau­mokuakea Marine National Monument.

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At Laysan island, trees were stripped of leaves, left broken and brown, while seabird chicks of numerous species were found dead along the shoreline battered by waves, according to Kevin O’Brien, who witnessed the devastation firsthand.

“It was really kind of a post-apocalyptic look,” said O’Brien, president of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project. “All the shrubs and trees on the shoreline had been stripped, and the leaves were salt scorched. So everything was just brown and dead looking.”

O’Brien was part of a crew of 16 from the nonprofit that narrowly averted the hurricane while on a 21-day expedition to remove large ghost nets, ropes, and plastic debris from the sanctuary.

The nonprofit, founded in 2019, makes several expeditions per year for the removal of large-scale marine debris.

On Aug. 19, the team was 12 days into their second expedition this year when they were forced to pause due to Lala’s path toward Papahanaumokuakea.

Four days earlier, Lala passed to the south of Big Island as a Category 1 hurricane, lashing it with torrential rain and winds that washed homes from their foundations and unearthed burials at Na‘alehu Cemetery.

Lala continued moving west-northwest, and passed as a tropical storm to the south of the rest of the island chain.

But then Lala began to intensify into a major hurricane again as it turned toward the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands at Papahanaumokuakea.

The National Hurricane Center forecast Lala to be a strong hurricane as it neared the monument, with maximum sustained winds of about 125 mph and waves as high as 31 feet.

O’Brien said it was the first time a hurricane was headed directly toward the crew’s location during an expedition. They checked forecast models, and it was a bit nerve-racking when they were not all in agreement on the storm’s track.

The crew, which was aboard the 68.5-foot research catamaran Imua, made a decision to head south to get out of Lala’s way. Fortunately, it turned out to be the right decision.

The crew waited four days aboard the Imua in open waters for Lala to pass. After Lala moved away, the Imua headed back toward Laysan island, or Kamole, to finish the cleanup expedition.

Upon arrival on small boats, the first observation was how brown the vegetation was, with heliope trees stripped of all leaves. Along with dead chicks along the shoreline, others appeared to have fallen from their nests onto the ground.

The crew also saw burrows for ground-nesting birds such as wedge-tailed shearwaters covered over with sand.

Papahanaumokuakea is home to thousands of species, including endangered Hawaiian monk seals, green sea turtles and 14 million seabirds including the shearwaters, Laysan albatross, and Bonin petrels.

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O’Brien said based on his own observations, the monk seals appeared fine and were mostly sleeping along the shoreline.

The crew will share those observations and photos with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

USFWS said is it working the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument co-trustees and partners to assess damages that occurred as a result of Hurricane Lala.

“Those assessments may change over time as additional storms may pass through Papahanau­mokuakea before the end of this year’s hurricane season,” said an FWS spokesperson in an email. “We are working with others to gather information about site conditions and will be assessing whether any damage will have short- or long-term impacts on wildlife, plants and habitat.”

FWS said biologists will continue to gather information in person as they visit Papahanaumokuakea, with planned returns to Nihoa, Lalo, and Kapou this fall.

NOAA, meanwhile, evacuated seven biologists at French Frigate Shoals prior to Lala’s arrival as a safety precaution.

NOAA said it is also working with monument co-trustees and partners to assess Hurricane Lala impacts while closely monitoring approaching storms. The agency said, however, that the health and safety of its personnel remain a top priority, and that it has temporarily paused expeditions due to Hurricane Lowell.

Despite the destruction, O’Brien felt hopeful at the life he saw return to Kamole.

“There was still a ton of life,” he said. “Everything sort of came back and crawled out of hiding, and there were a lot of birds in the air when we arrived. So we felt pretty good that everything would eventually bounce back.”

In all, the crew was able to haul out 48,680 pounds of derelict fishing nets, plastics, and debris from French Frigate Shoals (Lalo), Maro Reef (Kamokuokamohoali‘i), Laysan Isand (Kamole) and Lisianski Island (Kapou).

“These four locations are really important pupping areas for monk seals and over 90% of green sea turtles nest in Lalo,” said O’Brien. “So even if our cleanups were cut short, the work that we did is going to have a huge impact minimizing the risk to the wildlife.”

Despite its remoteness, PMDP said, an estimated 200,000 pounds of new marine debris accumulates at the monument every year, more than half of which is made up of abandoned fishing gear that can entangle wildlife.

PMDP plans another expedition in September, its last for the year. That expedition is expected to last four weeks and include Kure Atoll and Midway.

Since 2020, the nonprofit has removed more than 1.3 million pounds of marine debris from Papahanau­mokuakea.

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