Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Summary
This was the first meeting of the WAG Steering Committee in the two-year Southwest
Maui Watershed Planning project. Watershed Coordinator Robin Knox gave an overview
of the steering committee’s role, the project, and a status report; there was a discussion
on the education and outreach plan; a presentation on the status of Maui’s coral reefs by
Darla White; and a presentation on nutrient flux dynamics along Maui’s coastline by Iuri
Herzfeld. There were 10 people present.
Attendees
Michael Brady, Jacob Freeman, Iuri Herzfeld, Daniel Kanahale, Pamela Kantarova, Robin Knox,
Dee Larson, Teri Leonard, Richard Sylva, and Darla White.
Robin Knox described the steering committee role as a smaller working group that meets more
frequently than the WAG, every month instead of every other month. The group was asked to
comment on whether it would be preferable in months with general WAG meetings to meet one
hour ahead of that scheduled time in order to have one longer session rather than two separate
meetings. The group agreed that meeting on the second Thursday of each month seemed to be
free of schedule conflicts. Final dates will be based on meeting place availability.
Darla White (Division of Aquatic Resources) presented a brief overview of Coral Reef Status and
related research:
Coral reefs developed in and require for health: low nutrient, clean, clear water with little algae
and bacteria. When the system is out of balance, algae outcompete and overgrow the corals and
fills in the pukas, and microbial communities change. This is known as a phase shift.
Oldest coral colony found to date in Hawaii is 4000 years old. This was found at 1500’off the
coast of Oahu.
Symbiotic relationship between zooxanthellae and the coral animal. Zooxanthellae provides 90%
of corals nutrition that it needs for growth and reproduction.
Our reef systems are becoming out of balance. It’s essential to remember that restoration only
works if the things causing the imbalance are removed or halted. In many areas there is too much
algae and too few herbivores to keep it in check. In other areas with declining coral cover,
sedimentation, chemical run-off and other pollution are the problem. Each location has a number
of different stressors. If a reef is not growing, it’s eroding.
There are some fairly long term data sets on Maui’s coral cover and they are documenting the
decline in a number of Maui’s reefs.
Molokini has high coral cover and its health isn’t declining in spite of seeing some of the highest
recreational use in the State. As an MPA, fishing prohibited there, and because it’s offshore and
has high water motion/flushing, it is not impacted by anthropogenic land use.
Elsewhere, more monitoring is needed to find out what’s going on. Note that monitoring is the
first action listed in the CWA. But we know enough to take action.
At Kahekili in West Maui an herbivore replenishment area has been established. In some parts of
that area algal overgrowth is causing a loss of coral cover at 5 cm per month. Where coral cover
is being lost, the 3 dimensionality is being lost. Studies show this algal growth is definitely being
fueled by nutrients - including those from animal/human waste. The Lahaina Injection wells are
just upslope from this area.
The Community Working Group established by Mayor Tavares is addressing the issue of
injections wells and what to do to about them.
Visiting research scientist and steering committee member, Iuri Herzfeld, shared about his
research in nutrient flux dynamics and their relationships to algae blooms along Maui’s shoreline.
He gave a brief history of the origins and fundamentals of the problem, noting that this is not a
new problem for humanity - it can be traced all the way back to Greek literature. The biggest
shifts have occurred when people have shifted from hunting and gathering to agricultural and
industrial cultures. Historically people knew that over fishing would lead to famine and because
there was a limit to what could be stockpiled, there was balance. There was also a limit to what
could be grown, until the mid 19th century when it was discovered that nitrogen made plants grow
and so more nitrogen began being added to soil to make crops grow.
Beginning in the early 20th century, when the German’s discovered how to make synthetic
nitrogen, the amount of nitrogen use became so extensive that it became 5 - 6 times higher,
globally. This also coincides with world population growth after WWII. The world’s large
population has been fed by the invention of synthetic nitrogen which came into popular use in the
1950’s.
Nitrogen is not being consumed and so a massive amount is going into the land and into the
water, contributing to macroalgal blooms which lead to demise of fisheries and cultural practices.
These are not issues of not knowing whether nitrogen is a problem, or not, but issues of decision
making and learning from and not repeating past mistakes. This is difficult because of
generational gaps where information is not being shared.
The real tangible work he has been doing is measuring nutrient/pollution fluxes (nitrogen, carbon,
phosphorus, iron). He found a link between tradewinds, current and tidal flow with increasing
amounts of high nutrient “fresh” water along nearshore areas during high tides.
Action items:
# Description Due date Person
1 Update Draft Education and Outreach Plan Robin
2
3