Pollution

Pollution is one of the major threats to Hawai'i's coral reefs. One type of pollution is urban development. Construction companies sometimes have to change coastal areas in order to build homes or hotels.This causes pollutants and debris to enter marine waters, which may harm our coral colony. The cement and other construction materials can pollute the ocean. Another type of pollution is hardening. An example of hardening is the construction of sea walls. Sea walls are built to protect the residents of the beaches, but this causes a loss of miles of beaches. Twenty-five miles of beaches were lost on the islands of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, and the Big Island. The loss of beaches also causes wave turbidity. This occurs when waves smash against the walls, causing them to return with more strength. This wave action destroys sand habitats for animals who live on top, in, or around them. Sewage spillage is another from of pollution that can affect our reefs. When the sewage spills into the reefs the nutrients flow into our ocean feeding our algae. This causes the algae to grow over the corals and smother them.

Marine debris are left over fishing gear, such as nets, poles, and other things. In three recent cleanup events, Kaneohe and Waiana'e communities pulled seven-thousand pounds of debris. The National Marine Fishery Service estimated that there are seventy-thousand discarded nets and six-thousand metric tons of derelict (abandoned) fishing gear. These are severely killing our sea animals such as the Hawaiian monk seal and Hawaiian green sea turtle (honu).