UH Hilo and Keaukaha Community Association hold fun community event celebrating coral restoration at Puhi Bay
Keaukaha community members, UH Hilo faculty and student researchers, and local community organizations celebrated ongoing coral restoration work being done at the university’s Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resource Center.
By Susan Enright/UH Hilo Stories.
The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo and the Keaukaha Community Association hosted a welcome event, He Pūkoʻa Kani ʻĀina, on Saturday Aug. 2, at the university’s Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resource Center located in Keaukaha, Hilo Bay.
The event brought together Keaukaha community members and ʻohana, UH Hilo faculty and student researchers, and local community organizations to highlight the ongoing collaborative work being done at the center’s Coral Nursery.
The nursery has three main facilities: a lab with 21 flow-through tanks, an invertebrate pool, and four horse troughs used to house corals and run projects. UH Hilo students are eligible to volunteer at the nursery during the semester.
“We hope this event strengthens relationships and fosters new collaborations across the community,” says co-sponsor of the event Steve Doo, a UH Hilo assistant professor of marine science who researches coral and coral reefs.
About 100 visitors from the community — from keiki to mākua to kupuna — enjoyed the information booths, arts and crafts, land-based coral restoration demonstrations (gluing corals), snorkel-based coral surveys, and coral outplanting in the bay.
Kaʻaka Swain, president of Keaukaha Community Association who also teaches at Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo charter school, says the event welcomed the Keaukaha community into the Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resource Center to experience ongoing marine research through hands-on, culturally grounded activities.
“From limu pressing and lauhala fish weaving to touch tanks, coral reef building, and out-planting coral in Puhi Bay, participants explored the connections between culture and science,” says Swain.
“Keiki gained a deeper understanding of marine life and a sense of pride in caring for the ocean,” she says. “ʻOhana strengthened bonds by learning and creating together, blending traditional knowledge with modern science. The community built relationships with PACRC, connected with scientists and cultural practitioners, and left inspired to support ongoing rehabilitation efforts.”
In addition to co-sponsor Keaukaha Community Association, 12 groups headed the day’s activities. From the university were representatives from the College of Natural and Health Sciences, the Department of Marine Science, Pacific Internship Programs for Exploring Science (PIPES), Liko Nā Pilina Hybrid Ecosystems Project, and PACRC’s Coral Nursery.
Community groups included The Nature Conservancy, Waiʻuli We Count, Mokupāpapa Discovery Center, Sierra Club, Hui Hoʻoleimaluō, and the Kumuola Marine Science Education Center.
The Hawaiʻi State Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) also participated.
The snorkeling activities in Puhi Bay were sponsored by Keaukaha Community Association in collaboration with Assistant Professor Doo acquiring DAR permits to amend his existing permit (SAP 2026-20 Amendment 1) to outplant 18 coral fragments with participants at the event.
“This is a continuation of educational programming with Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo (charter school) from last school year, where the students will outplant corals in Puhi Bay,” says Doo.
UH Hilo Coral Nursery, a community project
UH Hilo’s Coral Nursery was established in 2018 by Matt Connelly, an education specialist and Marine Option Program staff coordinator at UH Hilo, who worked with MOP students to grow corals at the university’s Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resource Center .
“When I started in 2024, I worked with Matt to expand the areas, and currently we have three areas where we quarantine, propagate, and grow corals,” explains Doo. “We also are able to manipulate seawater conditions to facilitate studies that look how corals are impacted by changing ocean temperature.”
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Last school year, the opportunity arose for Doo and Swain to collaborate and create an education program on the importance of corals and human impacts on reefs.
“During the year, we taught students how to grow and care for corals at the Coral Nursery, and had interactive lessons on coral biology, ecology, and human impacts,” explains Doo. “We had about 10 UH Hilo students involved over the year working with the Ka ʻUmeke students.”
“Earlier this year, Kaʻaka got a Kaiāulu grant to help fund the logistics of this welcome event, and we wanted to make this event interactive, so we invited local groups to join in to highlight the work that is going on in Keaukaha,” adds Doo about the recent community event. The Kaiāulu grant fund is administered by Kamehameha Schools.
Photos of the Aug. 2 He Pūkoʻa Kani ʻĀina community event by Hunter Marion.
Story by Susan Enright, a public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
