{"id":16439,"date":"2025-04-02T12:46:38","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T22:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.environment-hawaii.org\/?p=16439"},"modified":"2026-01-23T15:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T01:04:13","slug":"board-talk-a-resilience-hub-marine-debris-nuisance-algae","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=16439","title":{"rendered":"BOARD TALK: A Resilience Hub, Marine Debris, Nuisance Algae"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Land Board Grants 65-year Lease<\/strong> For O\u02bbahu\u2019s First Resilience Hub<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Last month, the Department of Land and Natural Resources\u2019s Land Division recommended granting a 10-year lease for nearly five acres in the back of Hau\u02bbula to the nonprofit Hui O Hau\u02bbula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organization has spearheaded efforts spanning more than a decade to build a resilience hub in the community that could also serve the rest of Ko\u02bbolau Loa, which is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters, with the single, coastal road connecting the small towns to the rest of the island eroding in many places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a Land Division report to the Board of Land and Natural Resources, Ko\u02bbolau Loa is the only district on O\u02bbahu that lacks a designated hurricane shelter. The closest one is Kahuku Elementary School, which sits within an area designated as having a minimal flood hazard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTherefore, there is a compelling need for the Ko\u02bbolau Loa community to have the critical lifelines that can be provided through the resilience hub: safety and security, food, water, shelter, health and medical services, energy, communications, transportation and waste management technology,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2023, the Land Board granted the Hui a three-year lease for \u201ccommunity services and activities purposes.\u201d The lease helped the Hui raise funds to build the hub and also gave the group time to complete the state\u2019s environmental review process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An environmental assessment for the hub \u2014 including a three-story shelter and structures for storage and community activities, among other things \u2014 was completed last July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThrough their hard work, HOH has applied for and obtained several grants for the Resilience Hub totaling approximately $6,000,000 from various organizations and government entities. In addition, with the help of a grant from the [City & County of Honolulu], a 40-foot container was placed on-site that is filled with 1,500 five-gallon buckets (family-size) of dehydrated food that is stored onsite for emergencies\/disasters. HOH has applied for and been awarded several federal grants and is awaiting the status of the award amount. However, recent changes at the federal level have created uncertainty as to whether HOH will receive funding,\u201d the Land Division report continues, referring to widespread efforts by the Trump administration to slash federal funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Land Board\u2019s March 28 meeting, Hui executive director Dotty Kelly-Paddock testified that the group was very focused on constructing a building that can protect people from Category 5 hurricanes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis property is so perfect for us,\u201d she said of the state parcel located well out of most flood zones. Although a portion of the property would be vulnerable to an \u201cextreme tsunami,\u201d the shelter will be constructed in a safer, mauka corner of the lot, according to the EA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
An artist’s rendering of the primary hub building. Credit: EA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the meantime, we\u2019re also going to be growing agroforestry there for our communities\u201d and a medicinal garden, as well as building traditional Hawaiian hale that have already been permitted by the city, she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith all the disruption in Washington, we just lost our 2025 earmark, which was another $5.5 million. We applied for a [2026] earmark. Hopefully, we can get that and continue the construction, but a long-term lease is really critical when working with funders,\u201d she said. She asked that the board make the lease effective as soon as the 10-year lease documents are completed and not wait until the three-year lease expires next year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow is a very critical time to say to funders we have a long-term lease, a 10-year lease. They look at that as part of deciding whether or not they will provide the funding,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To this, Land Board chair and DLNR director Dawn Chang asked whether the Hui would need a lease for longer than ten years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would say yes. \u2026 Eventually, we hope to have 60-65 year lease,\u201d Kelly-Paddock replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chang noted that the title of the agenda item gave the board the flexibility to issue a longer-term lease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Board member Kaiwi Yoon seemed to support the idea. \u201cI think we all would support a longer-term lease given the instability of what\u2019s going on in Washington. Our nonprofits here need long-term dispositions in order to secure adequate funding.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelly-Paddock said that should the hui\u2019s application for federal funding in 2026 fall through, the Hui still has HUD funding that\u2019s good for eight years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will still have some funding to start the horizontal infrastructure in \u201926 \u2026 water, electric, and sewage,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Board member Aimee Barnes made a motion to approve a 25-year lease. Member Vernon Char seconded the motion. After a brief board discussion that included asking Kelly-Paddock what term she would prefer, Barnes amended her motion to set the term at 65 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Board member Riley Smith noted that for a lease that long, the board typically requires a removal bond. \u201cThere might be some issues we might be concerned with,\u201d he said. He added that he was comfortable with requiring the posting of the bond not at the start of the lease, but after 20 years, and the motion was amended to incorporate that idea, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The board unanimously approved the amended motion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is so very helpful,\u201d Kelly-Paddock said. Because Hau\u02bbula\u2019s will be the first resilience hub on O\u02bbahu, she said that the Hui is documenting its steps on the way \u201cto share the \u2018ike (knowledge) with other small communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Nuisance Algae Complicates<\/strong> Debris Removal in Monument<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The hard work of finding, hand-cutting, and removing the tons of marine debris that collect on atolls within the Papah\u0101naumoku\u0101kea Marine National Monument has gotten harder with the spread of the nuisance algae Chondria tumulosa.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
At Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll), marine debris technician Ford Stallsmith carries a large piece of derelict
fishing gear out of a dense seabird colony. CREDIT: ANDREW SULLIVAN-HASKINS.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/em>Discovered at Manawai (Pearl and Hermes Atoll) in 2016, the previously undocumented, mat-forming macroalgae has since been detected at Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll) and H\u014dlanik\u016b (Kure Atoll). It\u2019s blanketed hundreds of acres of reef, \u201csmothering vast swaths of coral colonies,\u201d according to a state Department of Land and Natural Resources website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen NOAA divers first detected the alga in 2016, it grew in low abundance, not yet widespread. In three years, the alga had grown into abundant mats of over 100,000 square feet each at Pearl and Hermes Atoll, outcompeting the species typically living in these ecosystems,\u201d a NOAA website adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cResearchers have not yet determined if Chondria tumulosa<\/em> was introduced from another region,\u201d it continues, quoting the monument\u2019s deputy superintendent, Randall Kosaki, who asks, \u201cIs it a native species that was just completely overlooked until it went berserk at one atoll, or was it an accidental human introduction from somewhere else?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of this uncertainty, researchers aren\u2019t yet calling C. tumulosa<\/em> invasive, \u201cinstead opting to call it a \u2018nuisance’ species for its invasive-like qualities,\u201d the site states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although C. tumulosa<\/em> has more recently been detected in the Marshall Islands, the alga has not yet been found in the Main Hawaiian Islands. And resource managers want to keep it that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to an October 2024 DLNR summary of efforts, \u201cA joint collaboration of federal, state, and private partners created a plan to test Chondria\u2019s ability to spread to the main Hawaiian Islands via marine debris removed from the monument.\u201d Experiments were done to see if the algae died if it simply dried out for long enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2022, the nonprofit Papah\u0101naumoku\u0101kea Marine Debris Project has received permits from the Board of Land and Natural Resources and the monument\u2019s management board to disentangle animals (Hawaiian monk seals, sea turtles, and seabirds) trapped in marine debris within the monument, and to remove the debris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver the last four years, our organization removed over 1 million pounds of marine debris, 80 percent of which was derelict fishing nets,\u201d PMDP executive director and co-founder James Morioka told the Land Board last month, as it entertained a recommendation from the DLNR\u2019s Division of Aquatic Resources to issue a new permit to the organization for disentanglement\/debris removal activities this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the fishing nets land on the coral reefs, it tends to suffocate the corals like a tarp on grass, so everything beneath will end up dying and will not provide shelter or food for fish that are really important to our native food web,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under this year\u2019s permit, his organization is expected to remove 100 tons of marine debris from the monument. In past years, PMDP brought the debris collected back to Honolulu, where it was burned at the H-Power plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCurrently, PMDP mitigates [the potential spread of C. tumulosa<\/em>] by avoiding removing debris from areas with C. tumulosa <\/em>growth and, when the debris is removed, thoroughly bleaching all of the material to ensure that no invasives are accidentally picked up and brought back alive to O\u02bbahu. However, this is dangerous for the crew, as the sloshing of large amounts of bleach in containers mid-journey creates a potential chemical hazard to those working on the boats,\u201d the October 2024 DLNR summary states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, researchers have not found a better way to kill the algae before PMDP makes its return trips back to O\u02bbahu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morioka, who managed the debris removal projects in the monument before PMDP took over from NOAA, told the board that in years past, \u201cIf we identify the algae on the net or the surrounding habitat, we have to move to an alternative location, so we leave the net in place. Unfortunately, last year we disentangled and rescued two green sea turtles and had to leave the net in place. One of my biggest concerns is these nets will continue to trap animals and to kill animals and it\u2019s going to continue to disrupt the coral reef ecosystem and kill the coral reef beneath it. But it also serves as vector for spread. So once these fishing nests become loose from the reef, they become these floating masses of this invasive algae which can then get sucked into the current, convergence zones and bring it back to the Main Hawaiian Islands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He assured the board that PMDP has a “rigorous biosecurity plan to ensure that this algae doesn\u2019t come back to our reefs.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nets from the islands that are infected by the algae are removed and put into marine debris storage bins. The nets are bleached \u201cat a 10 percent solution for four hours, because that\u2019s the only known [way] to kill this algae. Once the nets are treated, that there\u2019s absolutely no chance of this algae surviving, then we neutralize and dilute this bleach solution, go three nautical miles offshore over one thousand feet deep \u2026 and we\u2019re able discharge the water overboard into Papah\u0101naumoku\u0101kea assuming that it\u2019s neutralized. \u2026 Once it hits the big, deep ocean, it kind of dissipates and dilutes into nothing. But this method is extremely caustic and toxic for our staff. It\u2019s been really, really difficult to work with. But this is what we have to do to ensure and safeguard the Main Hawaiian Islands and so we\u2019re going to continue to do so,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even so, DAR had concerns about the biosecurity plans as originally proposed \u2014 especially with regard to work planned at Kuaihelani \u2014 and it had not yet approved a supplemental biosecurity plan by the time the board met to decide on the permit. DAR recommended dividing the plan covering this year\u2019s three removal trips into three parts, to allow some work to proceed if DAR was still reviewing a plan for one of the trips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis year at Kuaihelani, in April, we\u2019re proposing to remove nets for the first time with this Chondria tumulosa<\/em> on there,\u201d Morikawa said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PMDP is choosing to remove all debris at Kuaihelani, regardless of the presence or absence of invasive algae, \u201cdue to the hazards it poses to wildlife and the potential risk of nets remobilizing and drifting to another island or atoll,\u201d the organization stated in its responses to questions posed by DAR that were included in DAR\u2019s submittal to the Land Board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debris collected at Kuaihelani in April will be left on the atoll and not be brought to Main Hawaiian Islands for months, if at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morioka said the nets will be either studied to identify other ways to kill the nuisance algae or be treated with bleach solution before being brought to Honolulu on a later trip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the debris that does get shipped back, \u201ceverything is craned off whole and trucked to H-Power Covanta to make sure it does not get into our waterways and conquer the reefs here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Land Board unanimously approved the permit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Novel Survey in NWHI<\/strong> To Fill Chondria Data Gaps<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
A coral skeleton peeks out from a Chondria tumulosa<\/em> algal mat. CREDIT: TAYLOR WILLIAMS\/UNIVERSITY OF
HAWAI\u2018I.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In addition to approving the permit for marine debris removal in the Papah\u0101naumoku\u0101kea Marine National Monument, the Land Board also approved a research permit to University of Hawai\u02bbi doctoral student Keolohilani Lopes, Jr. to conduct monitoring of C. tumulosa<\/em> in the nearshore waters of Manawai and Lalo (French Frigate Shoals).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later this year, Lopes and his team plan to deploy small Uncrewed Marine Systems (sUMS) \u2014 FloatyBoats and submersible RangerBots \u2014 to autonomously map C. tumulosa <\/em>and collect images and other data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, automated underwater covert cameras and hydrophones will be weighted and set in sandy areas surrounded by reefs six hours a day to \u201cconduct presence absence videos of marine species and how they relate to the sound scape and disturbances. More specifically, this passive hydrophone\/camera will be used to compare the soundscapes between areas with C. tumulosa <\/em>and areas without,\u201d his permit application states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lopes plans to create a \u201cChondriaBot” program that will use computer vision technology to identify and map the algae. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe extent of C. tumulosa <\/em>is a major gap in knowledge for PMNM resource managers that the ChondriaBot program aims to fill. ChondriaBot systems rely solely on camera systems and other passive imaging technologies and will not directly contact the substrate. Ancillary data collected by these sUMS are salinity, depth, temperature, and eDNA collected on filter paper. The eDNA approach will consist of a passive filtration technique designed by UH graduate researcher, Patrick Nichols. These sUMS are developed by Queensland University of Technology, where it was rigorously field tested for several years, and adapted for this specific purpose by Mr. Lopes, for the University of Hawai\u02bbi at M\u0101noa,\u201d the application continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opportunity and weather conditions will dictate where the equipment will be deployed, but the team anticipates mapping several acres a day near the fringing reefs, \u201cwhere small boats find it too dangerous to access,\u201d it states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Chondria detection program runs on \u201cAI\/Machine Learning\u201d that has  achieved 86 percent overall accuracy in computer model runs, Lopes plans to test the system by reviewing all of the video collected in the monument to \u201cmanually track C. tumulosa <\/em>occurrences against the computer vision detections,\u201d it states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Teresa Dawson<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Land Board Grants 65-year Lease For Oʻahu’s First Resilience Hub Last month, the Department of Land and Natural Resources’s Land Division recommended granting a 10-year lease for nearly five acres in the back of Hauʻula to the nonprofit Hui O … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[536,13,26,25,338,17,339],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-16439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-april-2025","category-board-talk","category-endangered-species","category-invasives","category-land-use","category-marine","category-nwhi","tag-teresa-dawson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16439"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16979,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16439\/revisions\/16979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}