Kanu Koa Project Student Volunteer Day

On Tuesday, February 3rd, Laura Jim escorted three HPA students - Murphy Makely, Charlotte Kassis and Pemma Norbu- to Kona Village and Kahuwai Bay. The group was gifted the opportunity to volunteer with The Nature Conservancy's Kanu Koa Project. The project aims to accelerate the growth of reefs by planting corals in Kahuwai Bay that were deemed corals off opportunity, coral colonies that had been broken off from the recent swells. Part of this work includes research on the optimum method of "planting" the coral - either using a nursery system or planting directly on the reef itself. Students learned about corals of opportunity, how to fragment coral, and how to glue fragments. We worked exclusively with lobe coral, Porites lobata.