AP Photo/Caleb Jones

Hawaii Pacific University graduate student Drew McWhirter (left) and Raquel Corniuk, a research technician at the university's Center for Marine Debris Research, pull apart a massive entanglement of ghost nets May 12 in Kaneohe, Hawaii. The two are part of a study that is attempting to trace derelict fishing gear that washes ashore in Hawaii back to the manufacturers and fisheries that it came from.