He Pūkoʻa Kani ʻĀina: Keaukaha community gathers at UH Hilo aquaculture center to celebrate coral restoration at Puhi Bay

Posted on May 26, 2026June 1, 2026 by Staff

The event celebrated Keaukaha charter school 5th-graders doing collaborative restoration work with UH Hilo’s Coral Nursery.

(Video: University Relations/UH Hilo)

Story and photos by Samantha Dane/UH Hilo Stories.

Aerial view of the aquaculture center with buildings, ponds, lawn expanse and Hilo Bay coastline. — Aerial view of UH Hilo’s Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resource Center located in Keaukaha, Hilo Bay. (File photo)

It’s a hot, breezy Saturday at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo’s Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center at Puhi Bay in Keaukaha, where keiki, university students, and community members have been gathering all morning to witness the start of the second annual He Pūkoʻa Kani ʻĀina event. The name is from a Hawaiian proverb meaning “a coral reef grows into an island,” alluding to the strength of projects that begin small.

The May 9 event is the second annual He Pūkoʻa Kani ʻĀina, created by UH Hilo Assistant Professor of Marine Science Steve Doo in collaboration with Keaukaha Community Association president and charter school teacher Kaʻaka Swain. The event celebrates Swain’s 5th-grade students, the Keaukaha community, and the work being done at the aquaculture center’s Coral Nursery run by Doo and his students.

“Students are the heart and soul of this event,” says Doo. “They’re the center of everything. It’s a celebration for them.”

Group of keiki pose with ocean in background. A few of them are holding fins and masks, ready to get in the water. — At the May 9, 2026, He Pūkoʻa Kani ʻĀina event, 5th graders from Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo, a charter and Hawaiian immersion school nearby in Keaukaha taught by Kaʻaka Swain, gather for a group photo at Puhi Bay. The past year, the students in Swain’s class have been learning how to monitor salinity, temperature, and coral reef ecology in preparation for the coral outplanting event.

In the foreground is a bucket holding small pieces of coral. In the background are the kids and adults getting ready to go into the ocean. — The coral pieces used in the outplanting are pieces broken off naturally and collected throughout the semester by the keiki and university student lab members. In SCUBA gear and red tee is Assistant Professor of Marine Science Steve Doo who heads UH Hilo’s Coral Nursery where the coral is cared for.

The main event of the day is a coral outplanting session at Puhi Bay by students of Swain’s class at Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo, a charter and Hawaiian immersion school nearby in Keaukaha.

The event is the culminating project for Swain’s class, allowing them to put together everything they’ve learned over the course of the year.

Through collaboration with Doo’s lab, it allows the keiki to make a real noticeable difference in the bay that will continue to develop long after they’ve left the class.

Swain says she and Doo wanted to create a way to showcase both the learning that took place throughout the year and the partnership that developed between the keiki and the aquaculture center.

“We hoped to both highlight the students’ work and create an opportunity to strengthen community engagement with (the aquaculture center),” says Swain.

The local community showed up in force, too, ready to help where they could and learn from the many educational booths set up outside.

The booths were sponsored by federal and state organizations from around the community to offer outreach and educational activities. Groups from UH Hilo, such as the Pacific Internship Programs for Exploring Science (PIPES) and the aquaculture center’s own oyster farming project, to government and community organizations like Mokupāpapa Discovery Center and Hui Hoʻoleimaluō were there.

Info booths set up on large lawn. — Educational booths set up for He Pūkoʻa Kani ʻĀina, May 9, 2026, at the UH Hilo Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resource Center located at Hilo Bay, Keaukaha.

Booth for local organization. — Hui Hoʻoleimaluō is a local organization dedicated to the restoration of traditional fishponds.

Visitors to booth. — Visitors at the Hui Hoʻoleimaluō booth.

Booth for national marine monument. — Educational booth for the Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary.

Educational booth about Hawaiian birds. — Informational booth for the Hawaiʻi Wildlife Center.

Informational table about fish. — Info table about local fish.

Informational table about limu. — Info table about local limu (seaweed).

People gathered at the water's edge. — The day opened with several oli recited by the members of UH Hilo’s Coral Nursery lab. The oli, explained by UH Hilo alum Kumu Roxy Stewart, gives thanks to Kanaloa, the Hawaiian god of the ocean, and explains the process of building a reef starting from the smallest polyp of koʻa, or coral.

People on a walking tour near the water's edge. — There was also a moʻolelo (storied) walk along the shore led by Keaukaha local Halena Kapuni-Reynolds that highlighted place-based education, the meanings behind the name Keaukaha and how local families often have moʻolelo of their own that can reveal important things about an area’s history.

The event is the result of lots of hard work on behalf of the community and the Coral Nursery lab members.

Members of Doo’s lab, many whom are alumni of the Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo now students at UH Hilo, were responsible for the creation of curriculum teaching students about biology and coral health all year. Lab students like Kamaka Frasco and Kamaile Scholtz have been responsible for creating lessons, games, and educational activities, incorporating Hawaiian culture and immersion for the kids when they visit the center around once a month.

The past year, the fifth grade students in Swain’s class have been learning how to monitor salinity, temperature, and coral reef ecology in preparation for the event.

“The kids really like it,” says lab member Cameron Tsuhako.

Large lab tubs holding coral. — Coral being grown out at the UH Hilo Coral Nursery, UH Hilo Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resource Center located at Hilo Bay, Keaukaha. On their own, chances of survival for the small coral pieces are slim, but by collecting them and raising them within the lab, it gives the coral fragments a chance to recuperate in time for eventual outplanting.

Small pieces of coral inside a large tub. — The coral pieces have been tended and cared for by UH Hilo students at the Coral Nursery.

Pieces of coral on racks inside the tubs. — Pieces of coral are grown out at the UH Hilo Coral Nursery.

People milling about the large tubs of coral. — Keiki and others at the He Pūkoʻa Kani ʻĀina event view the coral pieces cared for at the UH Hilo Coral Nursery.

People viewing the coral inside the large tubs. — People at the He Pūkoʻa Kani ʻĀina event view the coral that’s been grown out at the UH Hilo Coral Nursery.

The main event: outplanting!

For the outcropping activity, keiki in Swain’s class, university students from Doo’s lab, and community members gathered down by the shore at Puhi Bay.

Then, outfitted with snorkels and floaties, each keiki took a piece of coral and swam out to the university lab team who were stationed out in the bay at a suitable locations for outplanting. The corals were brought down by the team and glued to the ocean floor to build up the reef in the bay over time, just as the oli suggests.

A group of keiki with floaters, wade out into the water. In the distance are divers waiting for the keiki. — Keiki, each with a piece of coral, enter the water to meet the divers out in the water stationed and ready to plant the coral.

Keiki getting their small pieces of coral to outplant. — Keiki gather around to receive the small pieces of coral to be outplanted.

Keiki and adults entering water. — Keiki and lab students prepare to enter water for coral outplanting.

Divers start to enter water. — At left the divers begin to enter the water and set up stations for keiki to bring them the coral pieces for planting.

Keiki take the coral out to the divers who are waiting to outplant the coral. — Outfitted with snorkels and floaties, each keiki took a piece of coral and swam out to the university lab team who were stationed out in the bay at suitable locations for outplanting.

The coral pieces, aptly named “corals of opportunity,” were pieces that were broken off naturally and collected throughout the semester by the keiki and university student lab members. On their own, chances of survival for the pieces are slim, but by collecting them and raising them within the lab, it gives the coral fragments a chance to recuperate in time for eventual outplanting.

The keiki understood the magnitude of outplanting the corals because they had learned about it all year. The end goal of the project, like the oli suggests, is to be able to develop a reef to the point where it can sustain itself. Laying the ground for a healthy reef is a big step toward a healthy future, after all.

Story by Samantha Dane, a biology major at UH Hilo.

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