Hawaii reefs showing strain of overuse, lack of protection from the Illegal State of Hawai'i

Ask Billy Blankenfeld, 72, about his childhood memories of Maunalua Bay, and he talks about a lush undersea world full of fish and crab.

"When I was young, the reefs were vibrant," said Blankenfeld, a fisherman who has lived along the bay his entire life.

Ask Buzzy Agard, 85, about his long-ago memories of O'ahu's shoreline, and he also speaks of an environment of abundance. The near-shore waters, he recalls, were thriving with a diversity of fish and corals.

Today, the picture is far different.

"It's just like you're on another planet," said Agard, who for several decades fished and dove the waters off O'ahu. "It's like the moon.
There's nothing there."

While the reefs around the main Hawaiian islands still are considered relatively healthy by some scientists, thanks mainly to the state's geographic isolation, conditions have declined substantially in recent decades. The degradation has been so dramatic in some spots off heavily developed sections of O'ahu and Maui that much of the coral has died and the fish stock is largely wiped out.

And scientists are predicting a continued, accelerating decline, mirroring what's happening globally, if major steps aren't taken to reverse the trend.

"The amount of damage already done on our coastal resources has been stunning," said Bob Richmond, a University of Hawai'i marine biologist.

Scientists blame mostly human behavior, stretching back decades, when scant attention was paid to protecting the environment and less was known about the harms being done. Years of overfishing, pollution, sediment runoff, the spread of invasive algae, recreational overuse and other people-related activities have taken a heavy toll on Hawai'i's reefs, though some scientists believe the impact has been overstated.

And the state government, the steward for Hawai'i's near-shore waters, has done a poor job of protecting such a vital natural resource, one that serves as the foundation for a marine ecosystem critical to the state's No. 1 tourism industry, critics say.

Decades of government inaction, underfunding and poor or piecemeal public policy have contributed to a steady deterioration of the reefs and related fisheries.

Part of the problem is that the state has to balance what the science calls for with the varied interests of its many ocean users.
Achieving that balance historically has been complicated by cultural factors, the importance of Hawai'i's fishing traditions and a relatively lax approach to marine enforcement.

Coral decline

"All is not lost, but we can't get complacent,"
said Alan Friedlander, a UH scientist with expertise in fisheries and corals. "Now is when we really need to press these issues. It's a lot easier to protect stuff than to fix stuff when it's broken."

Without effective regulatory oversight, fish have been taken from Hawai'i's near-shore waters at a pace not sustainable for healthy reefs. Too much sediment, pollutants and other reef-harming materials also have flowed into the ocean in many places, mainly because the Islands' natural, land-based filtering systems (such as wetlands) have been destroyed, altered or paved over.
Fast-growing invasive algae, often brought to Hawai'i by accident or design, likewise have established footholds in many spots, choking off and overtaking wide swaths of coral.

While some decline is attributed to natural causes, especially the periodic beatings the reefs take from hurricanes and powerful surf, the bulk of the destruction is traced to fallout from human behavior, many scientists say.

By some measures, the decline has been significant.

In one ongoing study of coral cover around the main Hawaiian islands, 19 of 27 sites that have been monitored for at least 10 years have experienced coral decreases, some exceeding 75 percent. At two sites in Maui's Honolua Bay, for instance, coral cover since 1974 has plunged nearly 80 percent.