Coral bleaching is already underway as Hawaiian waters warm up

(BIVN) – Officials say that the serious and widespread coral bleaching planned a month ago in the Hawaiian Islands is already under way.

As ocean waters warm up, a team from the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources confirmed that bleaching had already occurred in the reefs off Maui Nui.

The waters off western Hawai'i are also beginning to have effects. In Kahalu'u Bay, keiki cauliflower corals were observed whitening during a study conducted in August.

"We are seeing the growth of these new corals and hope they will help replenish what was lost in 2015," the Kahalu'u Bay Education Center wrote on its Facebook page. "Thanks to the generous support of Silver Spiral Seas, our team has been able to deploy 6 temperature sensors that will help us monitor and track coral bleaching in Kahalu'u Bay. We look forward to sharing the data with the community and natural resource managers. "

DLNR from Hawaii:

The severe and widespread coral bleaching predicted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is already occurring along the state's reefs.

Last week, a team from the DLNR Aquatic Resources Division (DAR) conducted a rapid assessment of coral health in Molokini and along the southern coast of Maui from Makena to Maalaea.

Russell Sparks, a DAR aquatic biologist, reported: "Molokini is composed of high percentages of coral species, Montipora capitata, and we found about 50% of this coral already bleached or fading heavily." And Kihei, the percentage of corals showing bleaching currently less than 10%. "Sparks said the reefs in dirty water (closer to shore at Kalama Park and in other areas of northern Kihei) were better than in similar areas with cleaner water.This may be due to the shading effect of dirty water partly reducing the stress of direct sunlight on these corals. In Olowalu, routine checks in August detected many corals of whitened and grass-pollinated Porities.

Dr. Jamison Gove, an oceanographer at NOAA Research, said, "Ocean temperatures remain well above average in most of the state. The areas along West Hawai'i and Maui Nui are particularly warm, up to 3 – 3.5 ° F above typical summer temperatures. Warm ocean temperatures are expected to persist in the coming weeks, which will likely exacerbate the recent coral bleaching in the islands. "

NOAA, DAR and the Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science at the University of Arizona (ASU-GDCS) have joined forces to collaborate on the science, conservation and management of coral reefs in Hawaii . One of the results of this partnership is the creation of a coral bleaching alert card, which outlines six simple steps that people can take to reduce the extra stress that corals undergo during the current laundering period.

Dr. Greg Asner, director of ASU-GDCS, said, "My team has teamed up with DAR and NOAA as a technical source for advanced surveillance of aircraft and satellites on the reefs in the main Hawaiian islands. We launched the website www.hawaiicoral.org to provide a simple but advanced platform that integrates coral observations made by residents and visitors with observations from the air and ground orbits. The result is a real-time monitoring system that informs citizens as quickly as scientists get data. Together, we can not only monitor this terrible whitening episode, but also work to reduce the secondary stress of the most affected reefs. Once the heat wave is over, we will have a good map to plan restoration efforts. "