Scientists report coral bleaching off Kauai coast

LIHUE — A Kauai scientist says the recent full moon and extreme tides may have contributed to coral bleaching off the Kauai coast.

The Garden Island reported Tuesday that 51 to 75 percent of the live coral has been bleached in Moloaa Bay on Kauai’s northeast shore.

Kauai fisheries biologist Don Heacock says bleaching is an indication that humans have fooled around with the environment too much.

Coral bleaching is a stress response from warmer ocean temperatures that cause coral to lose the color from their tissue, often turning white. Bleaching can be deadly to coral.

“If we lost our coral reefs our coastal fisheries production would drop by an order of magnitude or more,” Heacock said. “We have to protect them.”

Christina Runyon, a graduate research assistant at University of Hawaii’s Institute of Marine Biology, spent the last two weeks surveying reefs on Kauai’s north, east and south facing shores, and found coral bleaching at 10 locations. All were experiencing some level of coral bleaching, and the severity varied at each location.

“Global climate change is showing itself to us right now,” Runyon said. “We are starting to see (ocean) temperatures that are 1 to 2 degrees higher than what we normally see.”

In other coastal areas, Ahukini and Hana Honu are showing 31 to 50 percent coral bleaching, according to reports from the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

The Kauai bleaching news comes just one week after the department announced bleaching at levels above normal in waters off Oahu.

Because of high sea surface temperatures, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch program has continued a high coral bleaching alert for waters around the Hawaiian archipelago.

“Corals can recover from bleaching if temperatures return to a normal range, but it can take many weeks to many years for them to fully recover from a bleaching event,” William J. Aila Jr., chairman of DLNR, in a statement.