New program to restore 120 miles of coral reefs off Big Island of Hawai’i
Coral reef restoration along Hawaiʻi’s Big Island just got a serious boost: a new $25 million initiative called Ākoʻakoʻa is taking on 120 miles of degraded reef off the Kona coast. The name means both “coral” and “to assemble,” and that’s the whole idea — marine scientists, Native Hawaiian practitioners, state agencies, and local nonprofits working as one. A new propagation facility in Kailua-Kona will grow heat-resilient corals while researchers test what helps reefs bounce back. Guiding it all is the Hawaiian principle of Mālama I Ka ʻĀina, caring for the land so the ocean can thrive. With reefs in trouble worldwide, this kind of partnership — Indigenous wisdom and Western science as equals — is a model other coastal communities will want to watch.
