Earlier this month Kuleana Coral Restoration, the company responsible for the emergency response following anchor damage to a reef in the Kewalo Basin last year, released an update of the reef’s recovery. 

Fourteen months after its work to reattach over 200 coral colonies that had been ripped up by a ship’s anchor, over 90% of colonies are still alive. This measure of recovery, called survivorship, is on par or better than the natural survival rates of the surrounding reefs which can become dislodged due to wave action or human interaction.

The reattached colonies will take years to show noticeable growth and Kuleana Coral intends to continue to monitor their recovery for the next five or so years.

The organization’s executive director, Alika Garcia, said he has been talking to commercial dive operators that frequent the area to see if they, as professionals who know the spot, are able to spot the damaged site. None have managed to identify the repaired reef.

“If you cannot tell that the work that we did is artificial or human intervention, that’s a win, right?” Garcia said. 

More: Accountability Proves Elusive In $25,000 Damage To This Popular Oʻahu Reef 

Garcia attributed the level of successful recovery in part to the group’s ability to respond faster than in the past. When a Coast Guard vessel damaged a reef five years ago, Kuleana Coral requested a permit but, according to Garcia, by the time it was issued, there was nothing left to save.  

In Kewalo, they relied on an emergency permit for the first time, which Garcia called “kind of a milestone.”

Their work there was done in cooperation with the Ocean Alliance Project, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Christina Jayne, the Oʻahu Coral Nursery Curator for DLNR’s Division of Aquatic Resources said she was happy with the success of the operation. 

“It went really well, and it’s just really great to see that the corals are continuing to do well, and they’re surviving,” Jayne said. “It kind of makes it all worth it.”

Key Takeaways

While the Kewalo reefs make up one of the most popular recreational dive areas on O‘ahu, a common misconception remains that reefs in that area are dead or dying, leading to questions about the amount of effort that should be put into these sorts of recovery efforts.

“Kewalo is honestly one of the nicest reefs on the entire South Shore. It’s beautiful, and it’s kind of an anomaly,” Garcia said, “I didn’t know that actually, ’till we did this job.” 

There has also been some confusion over where the funding for these projects come from and whether the restoration was covered by taxpayer dollars since no one was ever held responsible for the anchor damage.

In the case of the Kewalo Reef, the approximately $25,000-project was covered mostly by grants from the Sheba Hope Grows program which supports much of Kuleana Coral’s work. Monitoring work was paid for by Patagonia.  

However, Garcia acknowledged the importance of transparency and accountability in how much coral restoration projects cost and how effective they are. He said that in the past 15 years or so there has been more than $20 million dollars spent on coral restoration projects in Hawaiʻi without adequate evidence of how effective those projects were.

“I don’t want to be a troublemaker, but what did we get at it?” Garcia said, “Where is the data showing the survival rates (and) the detachment rates?”

He said that he is trying to build partnerships, not criticize them, but pointed out the need for clear data to be able show that the work they are doing works. It will also allow them to find the most effective affordable methods to be able to scale up operations as the impacts of climate change on our local reefs increase.

“It’s our duty as coal restoration practitioners, not just to do a good job,” Garcia said, “But to make sure that it’s cost effective.”