Coral reef
research gets boost
as UH receives
federal grant

Also, a workshop begins
on monitoring by satellite

By Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

An international workshop exploring the use of satellites to monitor coral reefs opened today at the East-West Center.

In another development aimed at protecting coral reefs, the University of Hawaii-Manoa received $500,000 to continue the Hawaii Coral Reef Initiative Research Program.

Four projects were funded last year under a $475,000 grant, and 32 pre-proposals have been submitted for next year's research, said Michael Hamnett, director of the coral reef program and the UH Social Science Research Institute.

Priorities set by the research program's management committee for the next year, he said, are to expand monitoring activities and focus on two sets of problems: aquarium collection and overfishing, and alien and invasive species.

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye announced the new grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is sponsoring the workshop through Thursday on the use of satellites for coral reef research.

Scientists will discuss remote sensing of sea surface temperatures and coral bleaching, ocean surface winds, use of ocean color, data from Landsat and SPOT satellites, and Hawaii reef mapping using the Geographic Information System.

Recommendations will be drafted on international programs to monitor reefs using satellite data, making the information available for reef management, and new research and sensors needed to study reefs adequately.

Hamnett described four projects being conducted under last year's federal grant in a joint venture between the UH and Aquatic Resources Division of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Paul Jokiel at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, Coco-nut Island, directs a Coral Reef Assessment and Monitoring (CRAMP) project with 31 monitoring sites around the state to collect basic information on the state of the reefs.

"The purpose of CRAMP -- of the whole program -- is to provide research and monitoring to build the capacity of Hawaii to better manage its coral reefs, so it is not an academic research program," Hamnett said.

Cynthia Hunter of the Waikiki Aquarium and her group are studying the relationship between stony corals and algae and how algae may be involved with tumors on the corals.

George Roderick of the Pacific Biomedical Research Center is leading research on the genetic composition of Hawaii corals to try to determine if there are intruders from coral communities outside Hawaii.

Trade-offs in terms of coral reef ecosystem management, looking at ocean recreation and fishing vs. threats to the reef in Kaneohe Bay, are under study by a group headed by geography professor Mark Ridgley.

Hamnett said the program's management committee will review the pre-proposals for next year's work June 17, and investigators of those selected will be asked to submit full proposals.

He said "a whole bunch of coral reef activities are going on" at the state and federal levels and at UH.

Representatives of concerned agencies are on a Geographic Information System and Mapping working group, which has proposed a mapping program for the Pacific region, Hamnett said.

If NOAA moves ahead with remote-sensing mapping, it probably will be coordinated with the monitoring program, he said.

"The advantage to some kind of imaging technology is, you can cover large areas," he said. "Our approach we're taking with aquatic resources is having people in water, so we can get detailed information about limited areas."

Hamnett said UH "has a terrific relationship" with the Aquatic Resources Division under acting administrator William Devick. "It's the best cooperation I've seen between the UH and Land and Natural Resources in 15 years. ...

"The public is finally seeing people out in the water doing stuff, going to monitoring sites and doing research in the water."