Kahalu‘u Bay | Then and Now

Kahaluʻu Bay has seen profound changes in the past several decades. Overuse and development have severely degraded the reef in the bay, and coral deaths continue even in the absence of large-scale bleaching events. Local stressors include overcrowding and unsustainable tourism, sunscreen pollution, sediment kick-up, coral trampling, coastal inundation, sewage and polluted groundwater runoff. These stressors combine with warming waters to create synergistic negative impacts that harm and kill marine life. However, the recent pandemic resulted in a rest period for the bay, underscoring the hope of recovery with concentrated efforts on the immediate mitigation of stressors. Community stewardship programs, nonprofit organizations, local businesses, universities, and government entities are collaborating on solutions, but much more work is needed to save this bay.

Kahaluʻu Bay is the second designated Mission Blue Hope Spot in the state of Hawai‘i, and is a wahi pana, a sacred, celebrated, and storied place abundant with cultural and ecological treasures.

Contributors include Kahaluʻu Bay Education Center (a program of The Kohala Center), Dear Ocean, Applied Sciences LLC, Keeper of the Bay Production, and Silver Spiral Seas LLC. Many thanks to Pam Madden and Richard Hart for video and still photography contributed to Dear Ocean’s Digital Coral Ark Project.