CONSERVATION

Program Director: Dr. Daniela Maldini

Our scientific and educational programs are often geared towards conservation and on heightening public awareness of the environmental issues in Hawaii. Nonetheless, we feel it is important to also develop conservation-specific programs that focus on direct local action and community participation to contribute to the resolution of marine related environmental issues.

The Kapapa Island Initiative

Kapapa Island is an islet off Kaneohe Bay, on the windward side of Oahu. Because of pressure from the community to keep Kapapa open to the public, the islet is not a bird sanctuary, although every summer, between June and October, wedge-tailed shearwaters use it to lay eggs and raise their young. The island is a popular recreational destination for many Oahu residents who fish, snorkel, surf, kayak and dive in the surrounding waters. Because many of the shearwater nests are on the open ground, they are susceptible to human disturbance. Unaware visitors often trample eggs or crush chicks and nests.

OSI's goals on Kapapa Islands are the following:

1. Conduct a long-term monitoring study of the wedge-tailed shearwater colony to determine number of nests, breeding success, and potential threats. In the year 2000, OSI biologists completed their first season studying wedge-tailed shearwaters on Kapapa and counted 461 nests on the island. Over 200 chicks survived to fledging. OSI biologists will continue to monitor the colony in the years to come.
2. Develop an educational display interpreting aspects of the biology of the Kapapa Island colony, guided tours, and outreach through community college lectures and teacher workshops
3. To post interpretive signs, enhance trails, protect the most vulnerable nests, replant the native vegetation, conduct periodic clean-ups and eradicate invasive mice using volunteers from the community.

Reef Check

OSI has been a sponsor of Reef Check on Oahu since the year 2000. Formed in 1997, Reef Check is a global volunteer effort by teams of recreational divers led by experienced marine scientists.

Reef Check has two primary goals:

1. Research and Conservation - to obtain sufficient high quality data on coral reef status to allow them to be managed on a local, national, and regional scale.
2. Education - to raise public awareness about the value of coral reefs, threats to their health and solutions to these problems

Reef Check has volunteer regional and local coordinators in fifty countries that surveyed 250 different reefs in 1999. Reef Check was selected by the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee of the United Nations' Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) to serve as the volunteer and community coral reef monitoring component of GCRMN.