Maunalua Bay Gets Cleaner Every Day
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Del.icio.usMaunalua Bay is undergoing a major cleanup as part of the $3.4 million Maunalua Bay Restoration Project, also known as “The Great Huki,” and farmers are reaping the benefits.
Funded by NOAA under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the huki project workers (from Pono Pacific) have been on the job for less than five months but have already removed 1 million pounds of invasive algae from the East Oahu bay.
“It’s tremendously exciting to see so much clear water in Maunalua Bay for the first time in decades,” said Suzanne Case, executive director of The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, which is partnering with Malama Maunalua on the work. “It’s even more exciting to see native seagrass, sting rays, fish and seabirds investigating these newly cleared areas.”
That invasive algae, meanwhile, is being recycled for compost by local farmers and other green-waste facilities.
Upon completion of the project, workers and volunteers alike anticipate removing more than 3 million pounds from the bay, which will free approximately 22 acres of coral reef from the algae’s grasp and renew marine life and the sea-grass habitat.
For more information, visit malamamaunalua.org.
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