Comedian Frank De Lima with the Kona Daifukuji Taiko Drummers. (Hawaii 24/7 photo courtesy of Margaret Masunaga)

Special to Hawaii 24/7 by Margaret Masunaga

The Bay Concert, a celebration of life at Kahaluu Bay, gave special recognition this year to artist, historian and author Herbert Kawainui Kane.

The fundraiser, sponsored by The Kohala Center, was Saturday, Nov. 21 at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa.

Kane, a resident of Honaunau, was honored as a community leader at the very heart of the Hawaiian Renaissance and a celebration of all that is good in life.

Performing at the event were the Kona Daifukuji Taiko Drummers, Na Leo Pilimehana, Hookena, and MC Frank De Lima.

Mayor Billy Kenoi presented Kane with a Proclamation from the County of Hawaii.

The event was to raise awareness and funds to preserve and restore Kahaluu Bay’s coral and educate visitors at Kahaluu Beach about how to take care of the marine environment by not stepping on corals, not feeding the reef fish, and not harassing the turtles.

The County of Hawaii estimates more than 400,000 people visit Kahaluu Beach off Alii Drive in Keauhou each year.

The Kohala Center Public Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator, Cindi Punihaole, can be contacted for more information on the programs to help restore Kahaluu Bay at cpunihaole@kohalacenter.org or 895-1010.

Mayor Billy Kenoi poses with Cindi Punihaole, Kohala Center Public Outreach & Volunteer Coordinator; Herb and Deon Kane; Takako Kenoi, Matt Hamabata, Kohala Center Executive Director; and John DeFries. (Hawaii 24/7 photo courtesy of Margaret Masunaga)

Miss Young Kona Coffee Anela Deaguiar, a Konawaena Middle School student, performing a hula with Na Hoku Award winners Hookena. (Hawaii 24/7 photo courtesy of Margaret Masunaga)

MEDIA RELEASE

Find out what remarkable things are happening at Kahaluu Bay 5:30–6:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 10, at the Kailua-Kona Public Library.

Over the years, Kahaluu Bay has suffered from heavy usage. With more than 400,000 users a year, the bay’s coral reef is threatened and the beach has fallen into disrepair and overuse.

The Kahaluu Bay Project has more than 390 trained volunteers and over three dozen businesses working to bring back the cultural, natural, and social significance of this area.

Cindi Punihaole, community outreach and volunteer coordinator with The Kohala Center, which manages the Kahaluu Bay Project, will describe how to start a ReefTeach Program in your area, how businesses can Adopt-a-Day at Kahaluu Bay, the benefit Bay Concert, Outreach ReefTeach training for elementary, intermediate and secondary schools, water quality monitoring by the Citizen Science Program at Kahaluu, and how volunteers can help educate visitors at Kahaluu Bay.

For more information, contact Punihaole at cpunihaole@kohalacenter.org or 895-1010.

Sponsored by Friends of the Libraries, Kona, this program is offered free to the public.

MEDIA RELEASE

“Stories of Kahaluu and Keauhou,” recorded life stories of kupuna who lived there, will be aired this month on Na Leo O Hawaii Channel 53.

The three-part series features kupuna Mitchell Fujisaka and Allen Wall sharing their stories with cultural historian Kepa Maly. Maly gives additional background on the ahupua‘a gleaned from old Hawaiian language newspapers.

Na Leo lists air times as 7:30 p.m. March 10, 9 a.m. March 13, 6:30 p.m. March 15, 7 p.m. March 21, 4:30 p.m. March 23, and 7 p.m. March 27.

The programs were recorded on DVD as part of a Preserve America Grant awarded to The Kohala Center by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in recognition of efforts to preserve the historical and cultural significance of the ahupuaa of Kahaluu and Keauhou.

“It has been a dream of mine to present our kupuna on video and to share their life history,” said Cindi Punihaole, public outreach and volunteer coordinator with The Kohala Center, which manages the Kahaluu Bay Project.

“In this way we are able to continue the heritage of our Hawaiian culture. An important part of our work at The Kohala Center is to understand the culture,” she said. “If you understand the culture you can understand the environment. We are about understanding what was in the past in order to understand where to go. Kupuna guide us to restore the beach and bay at Kahaluu in a rightful and respectful way-the pono way for our children.”

The “Stories of Kahaluu and Keauhou” DVD is available from The Kohala Center or can be viewed at www.kohalacenter.org/kahaluubay/culture.

Information boards are part of the ReefTeach marine conservation education program at busy Kahaluu Beach Park. (Photo courtesy of The Kohala Center)

MEDIA RELEASE

The bright blue ReefTeach T-shirts will continue to be a familiar sight at Kahaluu Beach Park this year, thanks in part to a state grant for preservation and marine conservation education programs at the bay.

The Kahaluu Bay Project received its third Hawaii Tourism Authority’s (HTA) Natural Resources Program Award, and a share of the $2 million funding,  recognizing its “marine education, marine resource monitoring, environmental restoration, and community engagement activities that aim to preserve and restore the natural environment and special character of the shoreline and coral reef at Kahaluu Bay.” (See www.hawaii247.org/2008/12/24/isle-groups-among-hta-natural-resources-program-awardees.)

“The HTA grant goes toward making Kahaluu Bay a destination for education about marine conservation that merges Western scientific approaches with Hawaiian cultural wisdom about resource management. Working with the community and local businesses, this creates an innovative model of how to engage residents and visitors together in the preservation of Hawaii’s natural resources,” said Cindi Punihaole, project coordinator.

The bright blue T-shirt worn by ReefTeach volunteer Lynn Webber is a familiar sight at Kahaluu Beach Park. ReefTeach and other programs to save Kahaluu are funded in part by a Hawaii Tourism Authority grant. (Photo courtesy of The Kohala Center)

The Kahaluu Bay Project works to preserve the natural environment at Kahaluu Bay, an important fishing, recreation and cultural site for Native Hawaiians for hundreds of years. Now a 4.2 acre county beach park, this premier reef encounter site is being overwhelmed by the number of visitors attracted to this swimming and snorkeling site.

Each year more than 400,000 people use Kahaluu Bay—nearly twice as many users per water acre as at the more protected Hanauma Bay on Oahu. The coral at Kahaluu Bay can be damaged and even killed by human touch and trampling by well-meaning but poorly informed visitors. 

Six years ago, the University of Hawaii Sea Grant extension agent in West Hawaii initiated a program of educational presentations at Kahaluu Bay by volunteer ReefTeachers. The program has been successful in reducing damage caused by bay users standing on living coral.

The Kohala Center, a privately-funded, independent academic institute for environmental studies, stepped forward in 2006 to facilitate the continuing community-driven efforts at protecting Kahaluu Bay.  

A Kahaluu Advisory Group — made up of community members, scientific and cultural advisors, and visitor industry representatives — was formed to oversee project activities and strategic planning.

“Although the project’s early and continued success is heartening, there is much more to be done to save Kahaluu Bay from overuse and to rescue the beach park from disrepair,” Punihaole said.

For example, The Kohala Center plans to re-orient vehicle and pedestrian traffic flow, remove an old pavilion and retaining wall, restore the beach area, and build a cultural-educational facility at the park.

Other long-term plans include: 

* Strengthening and expanding a citizen science water quality monitoring program to systematically sample the waters in the Kahaluu Bay-Keauhou area

* Continued expansion of the ReefTeach program up to 100 regular volunteers. This will allow daily coverage at Kahaluu Beach Park during the peak visitor hours of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. without straining the capacity of any individual or local business teams.

* Continued educational outreach about coral reef conservation to visitor industry businesses and to the general public, including training of business staff and an expansion of free public talks and events.

* Expansion of a small volunteer ReefWatch program to determine whether conservation efforts are succeeding and what threats might be developing.

* Continued planning and implementation of physical improvements to Kahaluu Beach Park as funds and county and state regulations permit.

* Completion of a study about the feasibility of restoring sand to areas in which it has eroded by the removal of a rock wall along the bay front.

* Consultation, assistance, and sharing of educational materials with other groups working at oceanfront sites around the Big Island and on other islands, as requested.

— Find out more:
The Kohala Center’s Kahaluu Bay Project: www.kohalacenter.org/kahaluubay/about