coral

Concerns over the construction of a three-story judging tower at a famous Tahiti surf break for the 2024 Paris Olympics sent a team of scientists from Hawaiʻi to Teahupoʻo. Construction has begun, but the timeline for completion remains uncertain. HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi explains what the controversy has meant to the surfing and science communities.

You've heard of organ transplants, but what about the benefits of sound transplants? For coral reefs, an acoustic footprint called a soundscape is a critical indicator of their health. The Conversation spoke to Nadège Aoki, the graduate student who led the new study, about using sound to rehabilitate coral reefs.

Scientists say there has never been another instance of a large urban fire burning next to a coral reef anywhere in the world. They don't know how chemicals and metals from burned plastics, lead paint and lithium-ion batteries will affect delicate reef ecosystems. But research now underway could provide the community a sense of how the ocean that shapes their lives is weathering the disaster.

Maui reef biologist Andrea Kealoha spoke to The Conversation about her efforts to monitor the effects of toxic ash in coastal waters. She is a new faculty member with the UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology Department of Oceanography. She lives on Maui and previously led the Water Quality Lab at UH Maui College.

The corals were damaged when a Navy plane overshot a runway and ended up in the water. Emergency restoration efforts will give some the best chance of survival.

For decades, conservationists have been warning about the harm wildfires inflict on coral reef systems. However toxic contaminants from the Lahaina fire may bring new complications for ocean health.

Scientists are one step closer to perfecting a method that could save hundreds of coral species from extinction. Researchers at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology have successfully cryopreserved and revived entire fragments of coral. HPR's Savannah Harriman-Pote has more.

Three types of invasive octocorals have been found in Pearl Harbor. The most recent species were discovered during an environmental assessment conducted for the planned shipyard modernization plan at the military base.

An environmental group has a $2 million insurance policy on Hawaiʻi’s coral reefs, which is in effect in time for a busier hurricane season that could damage the vital natural resources that are increasingly under threat from climate change.

Aquatic biologists and marine conservationists are bracing themselves for the possible introduction of a deadly coral pathogen to Hawaiʻi's waters. In the last decade, stony coral tissue loss disease has infected the entirety of Florida's reef system and spread to more than 20 countries and territories in the Caribbean. HPR's Savannah Harriman-Pote reports on Hawaiʻi's first line of defense and what it could learn from abroad.