The beauty of Hawai`i's environment is one of a kind and can never be replaced, yet it is threatened everyday.
Major threats to our coastal waters, beaches, coral reefs and marine life include polluted runoff and other types of water pollution. The silt and sediment damages our reefs and ruins water quality that is so critical to the habitat of many of our marine species.
"...a key problem for reefs is nutrient-rich, sediment-thick runoff, which can smother reefs and promote growth of algae that compete with corals. One result is that there are fewer corals and fewer fish....The more effective way to react in this case is to find ways to reduce or eliminate the nutrients and sediment-filled runoff."
- January 3, 2005, "Coral reef damage continues" by Jan TenBruggencate, Honolulu Advertiser
"[Bill Walsh, state aquatic biologist] said there was "very significant" runoff, hundreds of meters wide, on coral in deep water of 25 feet or more. Divers found an inch of mud in many areas, and as much as three inches of mud in a few areas...If you sweep your hand and kind of make the mud that was on them blow off, the coral polyps that were underneath them were all bleached white and apparently dead."
- September 15, 2000, "Biologist says runoff kills coral, harms water quality" by Pat Omandam and Pat Gee, Star Bulletin
NATIONWIDE -
“37 million people, 19 million homes, and countless businesses have been added to coastal areas…These developments, however, come with costs, and we are only now discovering the extent to those costs in terms of depleted resources, lost habitat, and polluted waters.
Living ocean and coastal resources, once thought to be boundless, have revealed their limits.
Coastal areas are essential spawning, feeding, and nursery areas for over three quarters of U.S. commercial fish catches, however about 40,000 acres of coastal wetlands disappear yearly. Current projections indicate 50-60 percent of coral reefs may be lost during the next 30 years.”
- April 20, 2004 Press Statement
U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy
