Full Breakdown
Maui Artist Transforms Ghost Nets into Colorful Sculptures
8/16/2026, 7:56:36 AM
The Core Initiative
In early August 2026, artist Michiko Smith began converting derelict fishing gear that washes ashore on Maui into framed artworks. The pieces are assembled from ghost nets—abandoned or lost trawl nets that constitute up to 90 percent of the island’s marine debris—paired with hand-crafted wooden frames. Smith’s studio is in the garage of her Wailuku home, where she sorts, cleans, cuts and glues the nets into designs that often depict native Hawaiian plants and marine life.
Marine-Debris Context
Hawai‘i’s central Pacific location makes it a collection point for ocean garbage. Researchers at Hawai‘i Pacific University estimate that more than 200 tons of debris reach the Hawaiian Islands each year, most from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. In Maui’s coastal waters, volunteers retrieve 15,000 to 20,000 pounds of abandoned fishing gear annually, which are then shipped to the Center for Marine Debris Research on O‘ahu for study and recycling.
Process and Partnerships
Smith partners with the Pacific Whale Foundation, Maui’s designated response organization under the state’s marine-debris rapid-response program. The foundation maintains a volunteer list that reports and retrieves ghost nets, ropes, lines, pots, floats and traps along Maui’s shorelines and coral reefs. Retrieved gear is sent to the Center for Marine Debris Research, where staff, led by Dr. Jennifer Lynch, spend weeks disentangling the material and separating high-density polyethylene trawl nets.
Smith’s workflow involves several steps:
- Weighing and washing each net (one net weighed 280 pounds).
- Removing knots and “stink” from the fibers.
- Cutting the colored netting with a hot knife to match a hand-drawn design on a wooden frame she builds herself.
The artist sells her pieces primarily through Instagram and word of mouth. In the past two years she has sold 20 original works, with prices ranging from $180 to $3,000.
Economic and Environmental Impact
Smith’s art provides a tangible outlet for a portion of Maui’s ghost-net stream, turning waste into marketable objects while raising public awareness.
Beyond the gallery, the Center is piloting two recycling pathways for ghost-net material: a road-pavement trial with the Hawai‘i Department of Transportation and a decking-board test at the University of Nebraska. Both projects have reported “promising early results,” according to Dr. Lynch.
Official Statements & Responses
She also expressed concern about broader ocean threats, citing the Trump administration’s decision to lift commercial-fishing bans in five national marine monuments as a factor that could exacerbate debris and habitat loss.
Verbatim Quote
- “I’ve been producing a ton of different art, changing my style a little bit, adding more wood into it,” — Michiko Smith
Conflicting Reports & Gaps
The sources present a consistent picture of the volume of marine debris and the proportion of ghost nets, but they do not provide precise data on how much of the annually collected 15,000-20,000 pounds is ultimately diverted to artistic use versus other recycling pathways. The long-term ecological effect of converting ghost nets into art versus alternative recycling methods remains unquantified.
What’s Next
In early August, the Center for Marine Debris Research signed a trans-Pacific partnership with Taiwan’s Ocean Conservation Administration to target marine debris in the North Pacific. The agreement aims to expand debris-collection coordination and develop additional recycling applications, which could increase the supply of material available to artists like Smith.
