Hawaiian Innovation |

Hawaiian Innovation

Hawaii is known for great beaches, beautiful water and lots of marine life, but the coral reefs around Hawaii are suffering from a killer all their own: tropical invasive algae, one of the most invasive species in the oceans today.

In 2018, scientists in Hawaii developed an innovative method of removing invasive algae that can smother coral reefs. They’ve been testing this method in Oahu’s Kaneohe Bay, to great success.

This new technique has two steps. First, the scientists remove the algae with an underwater “Super Sucker” vacuum. Second, they introduce juvenile collector sea urchins to feed on the remaining algae. Although native to the bay, the sea urchin population was too low to battle the invasive algae. Officials developed a sea urchin hatchery, eventually releasing thousands of them into the bay.

The scientists removed more than 40,000 pounds of invasive algae, introduced 100,000 native sea urchins, and freed almost six acres of reef off the coast of Oahu over a two-year period. This represents an 85 percent reduction in algae.

This is the most ambitious attempt to remove algae (which competes with native species and limits biodiversity because it smothers the coral) so far. Most previous attempts to remove large amounts of algae haven’t been as successful. This new method is not only effective, but also has minimal environmental impact, and uses a native sea creature to reduce algae levels.

There’s one more benefit to this method—the algae collected by the Super Sucker gets used as fertilizer for local farmers. The algae is rich in nutrients and good for local crops such as taro and sweet potatoes. Even better? It’s high in potassium, which is considered a good insect repellent.

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Curriculum Reference Links

Biological World / Sustainability / 10: Students should be able to evaluate how humans can successfully conserve ecological biodiversity and contribute to global food production; appreciate the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems

10 Fun Facts: The Hab

1. Aquarius is the the world’s only permanent undersea research station.

2. Most missions last about two or three weeks.

3. Fabien Cousteau, grandson of Jacques Cousteau, beat his grandfather’s record month-long underwater expedition by spending 31 days on the Aquarius Reef Base in 2014.

4. The lab is used by NASA, the US Navy, and researchers and educators from around the globe for training and research.

5. The internet connection is better in the Hab than at many places above the water.

6. You have to swim underneath the facility in order to enter it.

7. Crew members are called aquanauts (NOT aquaNUTS!)

8. In 1994, a crew of scientists and divers had to evacuate Aquarius and climb up a rescue line to the surface in 15-foot seas after one of the habitat’s generators caught fire.

9. Aquarius was featured in the comic strip Sherman’s Lagoon in 2012.

10. The Hab was originally built in Texas.

10 Fun Facts: Coral

1. Reefs usually grow up on the east shore of land masses.

2. Parts of a coral reef can be harvested to make medications to treat cancers and other illnesses.

3. A coral reef isn’t a single organism; it’s actually a community of life that lives and thrives in one location.

4. Only about one percent of the world’s oceans contain coral reefs. That’s about the size of France.

5. Coral reefs are the largest biological structures on earth.

6. Corals are related to jellyfish and anemones.

7. There are over 2,500 species of corals. About 1,000 are the hard corals that build coral reefs.

8. Reefs grow where there are stronger wave patterns and currents to deliver food and nutrients.

9. The Great Barrier Reef is 500,000 years old.

10. Most coral reefs grow just about two centimeters per year.

10. Most coral reefs grow just about two centimeters per year.

10 Fun Facts: Invasive Species

1. To be considered invasive, a species must adapt to a new area easily. It must reproduce quickly. It must harm property, the economy, or the native plants and animals of the region.

2. Some invasive species are introduced accidentally, but others are brought deliberately.

3. Ship ballast water transports between 3,000 and 7,000 foreign species daily around the globe.

4. The total loss to the world economy as a result of invasive non-native species has been estimated at 5% of annual production

5. Invasive species have contributed to 40% of the animal extinctions that have occurred in the last 400 years.

6. Rodents are some of the worst invasive species.

7. There are an estimated 50,000 wild ring-necked parakeets in parks across London and southeast England.

8. Black and Norway rats annually consume stored grains and destroy other property valued over $19 billion.

9. Northern Pacific seastars reproduce very quickly. In one area where they were introduced, their population reached an estimated 12 million seastars in just two years.

10. Starlings were introduced to New York in the late 1800s, as part of an attempt to bring animals that were mentioned in Shakespeare‘s work to America.

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