Mother Earth sheds tears and Hi’ialakai heads to its call. It was acquired from the U.S coast guard in November, 2001 and is currently being converted by NOAA to administer and work towards maintaining eco friendly environment in shallow and deep waters.
According to Allen Gray, chief steward of the ship says that it is the most environmentally friendly ship he has been on. It is primarily for scientific operations both in shallow and deep-water dive projects. A primary goal will be to use the multi-beam and backscatter echo sounder data to develop a suitable baseline map of the working area.
This will enable researchers to periodically monitor the reefs to determine whether or not the reef systems are growing or shrinking over time. The coral reef ecosystems are especially important because they support several widespread, threatened, and endangered marine mammals, fish, sea turtles, and birds.
Hi’ialakai, the only material it carries is its wet garbage and food scraps from meals. That in itself gives us an impression as to what grounds it exactly works on. It has been installed with low flow toilets, shower heads and energy efficient washers; the crew has reduced their water consumption to 2,400 gallons a day which gives the crew ample amount of time working on the shrine.
Personally such a ship adds to the ‘Real value of life’ and reminds us every now and then that there is so much to live for. In early times sailors used to dump their wastes in the waters which today have resulted in havoc not knowing that this vicious circle would someday prove a threat to the mammals living in waters and then directly affect mankind.
It’s a true saying, ‘what you sow is what you reap’. People made mistakes in the past but I have a question, should we also repeat those mistakes and let things be the way they are going or is there anything that we as individuals can do contributing our bit to make this World a better place to live. Think about it and if possible react and keep on reacting until the next generation has questions ‘but’ no one to blame.
Via: Treehugger
