KAILUA-KONA — It had been spotted before.

A refrigerator floating in waters off the Kona Coast was finally fished out of the ocean on Saturday.

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The pesky bastard had been listing in the seas, but was finally hauled out during the morning of the first Big Island Wave Riders Against Drugs Scoop It: Ocean Debris Clean up.

It took a while, but the ocean cleaners eventually got it — which is exactly what they want to do, knowing they have a mountain of a task before them.

“There’s been a buildup of trash at the 500-700 fathom lines over the last three months,” said Jeff Fear, organizer of the event.

And he knows he has a battle on his hands.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as the Pacific trash vortex, is located between Hawaii and California, and pieces of the massive trash island eventually break off and follow the currents to Hawaii island waters.

Fear, who embarked early Saturday morning with his crew, said the trash — consisting of cargo nets, line, plastics, crab traps and other assorted debris — travels along the island current lines at shelf drops. His mission was to collect as much of it as possible before it reached the beaches.

He was in contact with fishermen all week to get reports on the drifting refuse.

“It got so bad that I don’t go out at night anymore,” said fisherman Fred Huihui. “I’m scared I’ll run into the trash line and get stuck out there.”

Huihui said he has seen cargo nets large enough to fill his boat.

“Run into one of those and your motor is gone,” he added.

About 10 boats launched from Honokohau Harbor armed with scoop nets and trash bags. They headed to the “ono run” along the Kona Coast, where the marine debris had been spotted. With dark skies on the horizon and unfavorable winds, finding the rubbish proved a daunting task.

“I haven’t seen it this clean,” said Fear, as he scanned the horizon along with his son, Michael, and volunteer Troy Gardner.

As if on cue, Gardner spotted a buoy bobbing on the waves. Fear guided his boat next to it where Gardner scooped it up.

But that was so far the only catch of the day for Fear, unless you count the two ono picked up along the way.

Heading back to the harbor after a four-hour search and refuse mission, Fear was not discouraged by minimal trash haul.

“It’s still out there,” he said, “We’ll be out again.”

Then he got a call from Huihui. He hauled in a refrigerator that had been spotted tangled in cargo nets the previous week.

“The currents took the nets out but the fridge came in,” he said.

Huihui and his crew of volunteers wrestled the heavy icebox aboard his boat — a task not easy, but extremely satisfying.

After further inspection it was estimated that the Sanyo refrigerator came from Japan, most likely a relic of the 2011 tsunami.

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Because of changing ocean conditions, Fear discussed the possibility of making the next cleanup effort a week-long event, encouraging fishermen and volunteers to catch more than fish along the Kona Coast and discarding the debris in a designated dumpster near the boat washing area.

“I don’t give up,” said Fear. “It’s still out there. It just migrated. We’ll get more next time.”