Spring into Summer: ʻĀkoʻakoʻa Progress in Hōnaunau

From Reef to Shoreline, the Progress Continues

In April, the field team worked to continue establishing the Future Reef Bank in the nursery in preparation for this year's spawning events that run from April through July. Colonies were collected from two different sites in Hōnaunau Bay with the goal of growing Pocillopora  meandrina (cauliflower coral) and Porites lobata (lobe coral) collections in our nursery.

We focus our collections on “corals of opportunity” that are loose and vulnerable on the seafloor and of sufficient size, meaning they will most likely spawn once they recover in the nursery. This way, we are not only rehabilitating parent corals that are vulnerable in their natural habitat, but we are growing the populations of future generations in the Bay.

Hōnaunau is one of the key restoration sites of ‘Āko‘ako‘a because of the essential relationship with cultural advisory board member and lineal descendent of Hōnaunau, Jeana Kelekolio. Jeana has seen absolute devastation to the reefs over the course of her lifetime, and she works daily on the front lines of the coastline to protect it. Through educational tools such as signs and posters, she has made progress in improving reef health.

What may look like simple moss growing over lava rocks is limu that is a vital part of the ecosystem. And because of her signs direct up to a thousand visitors per day away from the limu, Jeana has helped it to grow back along the shoreline in areas that were barren. Places like Hōnaunau provide great examples for how the smallest things in an ecosystem are extremely important to the health of a reef. And if visitors can take what they learned from Jeana and apply it to all areas they frequent while visiting West Hawai‘i, we can hope to see improvements and progress made along the coast.