Fishermen, surfers, and scientists unite to restore degraded reefs in Hawai'i
Similar to reefs around the world, the coral reefs of Hawai'i are being degraded and lost due to human impacts. This degradation decreases reef biodiversity, fisheries, and overall ecosystem health. On O’ahu, reef health directly impacts economic livelihoods, through fisheries, biodiversity, tourism, and coastal protection. However, open ocean swells and an active fishing sector means restoration techniques must be tailored to the unique environment there.
As a result, Kuleana Coral Restoration (KCR) was founded by fishers, surfers, and scientists to pair traditional knowledge with scientific techniques to restore West O'ahu reefs and cultivate reef resilience. This place-based approach is scalable, cost-effective, and allows the public to join in.
KCR’s dive team survey a site, identify corals that have been dislodged from the reef. We call these Corals of Opportunity, and they can be collected and reattached to the reef as a cost-effective restoration approach. These Large Rescue Colonies (LRCs) can represent up to 50 years of coral growth and reattaching them to substrate immediately returns ecological services to the reef. Since Hawai'i is home to mostly slow-growth corals, this approach significantly impacts restoration, while being straight-forward and replicable in other communities.
Coral fragments attached to a pre-made substrate, called coral modules, are outplanted onto the reef. These coral fragments will fuse together over time.
For corals that are smaller in size and younger, they are collected and stored in a seawater nursery. These corals are used for fragmentation, a technique that cuts corals into smaller pieces to stimulate rapid growth. These fragments are then attached to a substrate and out planted onto a reef at a restoration site.
The nature of KCR's fragmentation events allows local community members and visitors to learn about coral through hands-on restoration, while also gaining insight on restoration methods. Throughout the outreach process, KCR is able to educate the public on what coral restoration looks like in West O'ahu, based on our coastal environment, coral species, and fish populations.
With the help of many citizen scientists, KCR has out planted 1,500+ corals to sites across West Oʻahu and beyond. Kuleana Coral Restoration will train early career residents in coral conservation, ecology, restoration, and scientific techniques starting in summer 2023.
Source: coralreef.noaa.gov, article by Carissa Cabrera and Blake Nowack, Kuleana Coral Restoration