A $1 million-a-year grant has been awarded to the University of Hawaii Kewalo Marine Laboratory for five years by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to work with Pacific islanders on land-sea interactions and damage to coral reefs, recreational and fishery resources.

Robert Richmond, a world-renowned coral reef conservationist and principal investigator for the project, said the funding continues an earlier grant dealing with watershed issues at the community level throughout islands in Micronesia.

"It will have a huge impact," he said.

The researchers will work on Pohnpei and Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia and Guam and Palau.

Richmond, in an interview, said they are taking a holistic approach to the Pacific islands' problems as the Kewalo scientists did in a community partnership on land and water issues in East Oahu's Maunalua Bay.

"We'll be drawing bridges between the two," he said, noting he brought colleagues from Palau to Maunalua community meetings, and "they were able to describe how they used science to change behaviors damaging to reefs and fisheries.

"It was a nice moment to see how the traditional nature of Micronesian communities can be used as a model," Richmond said. "We're going to try to set up community exchanges for fishers and key community leaders to go to Palau and interact with their fishers and community leaders.

"There is a lot to be given and learned on both sides," he added, stressing that science does not tell people what to do, but provides communities with solid information "so they can make decisions knowing where this is going to take them."

Noah Idechong, speaker of the Palau National Congress and a key member of the project advisory group, said in a news release the grant "will allow us to continue addressing problems resulting from poor land-use practices in the past.

"We will also engage the community in proactive planning for future activities and test culturally appropriate approaches supporting coal reef sustainability for us, our children and generations to come."

Felix Martinez, manager of the Coral Reef Ecosystem Studies Program at the NOAA Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research, said, "This project is an excellent example of how NOAA can provide not only relevant science information, but also a framework to allow communities to develop and implement effective strategies to stop and hopefully reverse environmental degradation."