A recent study about microplastics on Oʻahu’s beaches contains a curious line. Scientists had been digging holes at Kahuku, Kokololio, and Waimānalo beaches to look for microplastics under the sand.
The researchers wrote that a collaboration with a cultural practitioner “led to critical realizations about the potential harm our research methods might have caused, such as disinterring ancestral burial remains.”
The Conversation spoke with scientist Astrid Delorme of the Center for Marine Debris Research at Hawaiʻi Pacific Univerity, and Waimānalo cultural practitioner Kimeona Kāne about what their unexpected collaboration can teach others.
“When you're a researcher, guest in a community, and then having the opportunity to build through that and actually be invited into community spaces, that's the pono that we want to see,” Kāne said. “Can we sit on the same side of the table? Absolutely. Can we agree? Absolutely. Can we disagree? For sure. But what I think we express and experience here, is come, come be with the community, come share the community's perspective and recognize that there will be some boundaries there.”
Delorme's research dove into where ocean plastics end up — do they stay at the surface? Do they get buried? Her research involved digging holes to see if any plastics were under the surface.
In a conversation with Delorme during the project, Kāne brought up concerns about sand turtles (mole crabs) along the shoreline.
“I think that’s when I really started to understand how my research is disconnected from the place," Delorme said. "We want this data to help the problem on Hawaiʻi, and I think we do need to let the people from Hawaiʻi lead and describe this problem and be part of those solutions.”
This interview aired on The Conversation on April 10, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m.
