Today was a very cool event at Kahaluu Beach Park Pavilion. It was Coral Reef Awareness Day.
It started at 10 am and went till 2pm. The event was sponsored by UH Sea Grant, Girl Scout Council of Hi, Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort and Jack's Diving Locker along with help from many volunteers.
The event was billed as being geared toward the keiki, (kids) and there was a lot of activities to both entertain and educate the young ones about the ocean and reef ecosystem and how they interconnect.
I guess I'm easily entertained, I learned some cool stuff myself. Did you know that sand on the beach is primarily made up of worn fragments of coral, shell, urchin and calcified algae, as well as other minute organisms found on the ocean floor? I'd like to tell you I did.
I also learned that the reefs provide food and shelter for millions of marine life -25 percent that are found nowhere else on earth...
Events like these are good for teaching folks about things like "reef etiquette." For instance, don't stand on the coral! Float or snorkel over coral and only stand up on the sandy bottom.
Corals are living animals that eat, grow and reproduce.
The reef ecosystem feeds, shelters and provides habitats for fish, protects the shoreline from wave and sand erosion and creates Hawaii's famous white sand beaches and underwater paradise.
Jim and Janice Kerr were here today representing Jack's Diving Locker, they clued me in to the fact that the reef fish populations are coming back nicely due to the regulations that control which areas fish collectors can gather from.
That was a nice thing to hear about. The old timers here say that use to be that you could look out over the ocean and see what looked like a carpet of gold from all the Yellow Tangs that were here. Then the fish collectors came and annihilated the tropical fish supply.
About 5 years ago, 9 different areas off the coast of West Hawaii were closed to fish collectors and also from what I gather a study by the University's of Hawaii, Washington and Oregon was started at the same time to see what the difference if any was.
And the improvement was a WHOPPING 141 PERCENT increase in one species of fish alone! Cool.
I had forgot until now that about 7 years ago I attended a community meeting at the Kelahakehe High school where hundreds of people showed up in support of stopping fish collectors from decimating the fish populations.
Shortly after that meeting, the regulations were implemented and the rebuilding of reef fish stocks began. Previously there were no laws restricting where fish could or could not be collected.
Today was a good Kona Earth Day in Hawaii. Aloha
