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Description:
Project Manager:
Paulo Maurin
Project Years:
2016
2017
Project Summary:
2017 UPDATE: This project will address continue data collection in the W Maui area that have been the center of CRCP-supported monitoring efforts. Last year's project "FY16 Quantifying condition of coral reef communities in the Kahana and Honokahua Priority Watersheds, West Maui (ID:31141)" succeeded in providing reef conditions in two of the 5 watersheds in W Maui, and overall coral reef fish and benthic assemblages in the W Maui priority area. Previously, CRCP funded the FY14 project "Determining the efficacy of watershed management activities in the Wahikuli and Honokowai watersheds, West Maui (ID 1077)" which provided sediment loading dynamics for two of the five watersheds. Thus, there is a baseline for corals, fish, and benthic habitat already established, and partial sediment data for the two southern watersheds, but the area is missing critical sediment data for three of the five watersheds. This project will address this data gap in the missing northern three watersheds, plus provide additional data in the two southern watersheds, filling in the picture of sediment loading. By the end of this project, we will have a fuller understanding of coral reef communities and benthic assemblages, plus sediment loading, across the entire priority area. The five West Maui watersheds from Wahikuli to Honolua have priority status from the US Coral Reef Task Force, and the state of Hawaii designated it a Resilient Land and Waters site. Given its importance, the highly collaborative multi-partner West Maui Ridge to Reef Initiative was created to organize planning and implementation actions needed to improve coral reef health in this area. Despite the layers of priority designation and the resulting Initiative that has come together in West Maui creating complementary and synergistic work across the five watersheds, these efforts are hampered by a dearth of basic information: we don’t accurately know where these reefs actually are. This data gap hampers not only the effective implementation of coral reef conservation projects, but also our communication with local stakeholders. The wide-ranging partnership has created a coalition of initiatives and allowed for coordination between many on the ground projects, creating the right conditions and partnerships to utilize the data this project would generate. NOAA CRCP-funded project 1077 (Determining the efficacy of Watershed Management in the Wahikuli and Honokowai watersheds, West Maui) established permanent coral reef community monitoring stations at 12 sites to assess the efficacy of watershed restoration activities aimed at reducing sediments and land-based sources of pollution. In addition to setting up replicate survey transects at each of the monitoring sites, baseline benthic cover and coral community demographic data has been acquired for the survey sites. However, beyond these spatially discrete data, little or no information is available that describes the distribution, extent, and status of the coral reef habitats along the Priority Watershed. These substantial data gaps preclude a sound evaluation of the status of the coral reef habitats in the Priority Watershed and ability to identify new and potential of areas of concern. These data gaps also hinder the ability to share these data with the public and stakeholders to help identify and prioritize the areas and actions to mitigate.Objectives: 1) Gather data on the reef benthic cover and fishes across the Honokahua-Kahana watersheds, following the same approach and methods current implemented by the DAR Maui in the Wahikuli-Honokowai watershed. 2) Interface with CRCP-funded project 1077 to collate all existing benthic cover and coral demographic data into a West Maui Watershed Coral Community Baseline Report. And 3) To produce an “Annual Maui Priority Watershed Area Status Report” that would be used as key document to engage local stakeholders and inform management. There is clearly insufficient baseline data to adequately assess the recovery potential of the coral reefs within the Honokahua-Kahana region (roughly represents 2/3 of the Priority Watershed coastline). This project will provide spatially comprehensive baseline data on benthic and fish assemblages across the Priority watershed that effectively documents the distribution, extent, and status of the coral reef communities within the Priority Watershed. Properly quantifying success or otherwise of watershed management in the priority area in Maui is fundamental to adequately understand the effectiveness of the management actions begun or planned.
Expected Outcome:
2017 UPDATE: Main outcome will consist of evaluation of sediment loading dynamics and composition. This project seeks to fulfill West Maui’s needs to assess the effectiveness of watershed management practices, by means of implementing established NOAA-CRCP performance measures for LBSP. Its efficacy hinges on a programmatic long-term commitment that integrates the project's primary objectives (biologic and oceanographic monitoring) and the appropriate temporal framework within which strategic management actions plans are implemented and realized. This approach enables tracking the changes in the sediment loading as a function of effected management practices, which in turn provide the framework to explain any demographic changes in the reef biota. This project fills in a critical monitoring gap while complementing ongoing local monitoring and management programs, meets the CRCP jurisdictional and National objectives, and supports the USCRTF and local watershed management plans.This project will generate data on the status of the fish and benthic communities in the Honokahua–Kahana area. By expanding monitoring to include this section of the West Maui Priority Watershed, this project will generate compatible data on reef habitats for which there is currently very little or no information. The Honokahua–Kahana watershed represents roughly 2/3 of the entire Priority Watershed coastline, and therefore this project will provide a baseline for West Maui R2R Initiative another managers to assess future change in reef condition from watershed restoration projects in the priority area. The data generated by this project will be incorporated into synthesis reports that are being jointly developed in partnership with the CRCP, USACE, West Maui R2R Initiative and DAR Maui: 1) "Annual Maui Priority Watershed Area Status Report" highlighting current information on status and trends of reef biological assemblages in the area; and 2) "West Maui Watershed Coral Community Baseline Report" focusing on the distribution, status, and condition of the benthic communities in relation to the attendant sediment runoff and land-based sources of pollution impacts.The products resulting from this project will improve management and conservation efforts by:Expand the capability to assess the effectiveness of watershed management activities across the entire West Maui Watershed.Ability to contextualize the status of the reefs with the identified levels of impact (stream sediment pollution) throughout the Priority Watershed.Dissemination of results to the public and stakeholders for buy-in and participation in the prioritization of areas and actions to mitigate.As mentioned above, dissemination of results by means of anon-technical report will be made available to all relevant jurisdictional and Federal partners. Presentations to Maui partners, the Ridge 2 Reef Initiative, stakeholders, and the general public agencies will be organized as requested. In addition, results will be included in the Comprehensive West Maui Watershed plan that will inform the synergistic suit of actions that should be taken to protect coral reefs in this region when considering a 50 year time horizon. This enhanced baseline information will also be useful to other researchers and non-profits focused in the area, as well as to county departments working on future planning and storm water management.
Project Locations:
Project Category:
Land-based Sources of Pollution (LBSP)
Project Type:
Closed
Project Status:
Funding Ended
Associated Products:
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