The and the Keaukaha Community Association hosted the welcome event, He ��ū���ʻ�� Kani ʻĀ���Բ�, on August 2, at the university’s (PACRC) in Keaukaha, Hilo Bay.

The event brought together Keaukaha community members and ʻohana, UH Hilo faculty and student researchers, and local organizations to highlight the collaborative work being done at the center’s .

The nursery has three main facilities: a lab with 21 flow-through tanks, an invertebrate pool, and four horse troughs used to house corals and run projects. UH Hilo students are eligible to volunteer at the nursery during the semester.

“We hope this event strengthens relationships and fosters new collaborations across the community,” said event co-sponsor Steve Doo, a UH Hilo assistant professor of who coral and coral reefs.

Ocean stewardship

About 100 visitors from the community — from keiki to mākua (parents) to kūpuna (elders) — enjoyed the information booths, arts and crafts, land-based coral restoration demonstrations, snorkel surveys and coral outplanting in the bay.

Kaʻaka Swain, president of who also teaches at Ka ʻUmeke ����ʻ��� charter school, said the event welcomed the Keaukaha community into PACRC to experience ongoing marine research through hands-on, culturally grounded activities.

“From limu pressing and lauhala fish weaving to touch tanks, coral reef building, and out-planting coral in Puhi Bay, participants explored the connections between culture and science,” said Swain. “Keiki gained a deeper understanding of marine life and a sense of pride in caring for the ocean.”

—By Susan Enright

To improve water resiliency in the state, the U.S. Department of Defense Naval Facilities Engineering Expeditionary Warfare Center (NAVFAC EXWC) has invested $300,000 toward a new partnership with the University of �鶹��ý and others to explore new ways to steward, sustain and reimagine water resources in �鶹��ý through the Hoʻolana Water Resilience Prize Challenge.

The pilot program was launched in fall 2023 by the and as part of their Innovation Challenge initiative. Two of 13 proposed water resilience solutions were selected for further development. One project employs analytical and machine learning image analysis to detect cloud immersion in �鶹��ý’s tropical cloud forests (tropical or subtropical forests that are frequently covered in low-lying clouds and mist, creating a persistently wet environment). The other is exploring the potential of oyster aquaculture to improve Pearl Harbor’s water quality and ecosystems. They each received $75,000 in seed funding and mentorship.

Detecting cloud immersion through machine learning analysis

Between 800–3,500 meters in elevation, tropical montane cloud forests are tropical ecosystems characterized by frequent ground-level cloud immersion or fog. Cloud droplets collecting on vegetation is an important source of water in these forests. However, unlike rainfall, the phenomenon of fog meteorology and its interaction with vegetation is still misunderstood and understudied.

A team from the is working on using machine learning to detect fog and estimate cloud water content from camera images. This low-cost, image-based solution aims to capture near real-time cloud immersion data and enhance researchers’ understanding of fog and its impact on montane regions in �鶹��ý.

“By using cameras as a low-cost approach for estimating the availability of cloud water in tropical montane cloud forests, we hope to better monitor spatial and temporal cloud immersion patterns across diverse geographies and ecosystems,” said Dylan Giardina, who is part of the team’s research staff. “This represents an important first step in beginning to understand how much water is intercepted by vegetation, developing wall-to-wall climate maps for cloud immersion, and understanding how cloud water availability might be impacted by climate change.”

Restoring natural habitats of Pearl Harbor

A team from and its community partners are identifying opportunities for using oyster bivalves to improve water quality and habitats in Pearl Harbor. As suspension feeders, oyster bivalves ingest and filter out excess phytoplankton resulting from run-off from terrestrial sources like nitrogen and phosphorus. They also help settle sediment from erosion, helping to maintain water clarity.

“Wai Momi was once a majestic estuary, rich with biodiversity,” said Rhiannon Tereariʻi Chandler-ʻĪ����, UH Hilo aquaculture policy and extension specialist and former Waiwai Ola Waterkeepers Hawaiian Island executive director. “So much of its natural ecosystems have been transformed or lost; it’s hard to find even one pearl oyster in the harbor now. It’s no surprise that water quality is an issue.”

Next steps

Both teams will continue to work with NAVFAC EXWC through the end of the year, and plan to present research updates to government, industry and venture capital communities early next year to determine further development and possible acquisition opportunities.

For more, . Noelo is UH’s research magazine from the .

The is part of a new consortium funded by a federal grant of nearly $1 million to address critical economic and marketing gaps in the country’s aquaculture industry. Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic life, such as fish and shellfish, in controlled environments like ponds or tanks. The multi-state and island project will emphasize building bridges across a range of geographic regions between researchers, industry leaders, and state extension services.

“With record production of $90 million in 2023, aquaculture is now one of the largest contributors in agricultural production in �鶹��ý, yet key information for planning and decision-making is lacking,” said Maria Haws, an aquaculture professor at UH Hilo. Haws is based at the university’s (PACRC) in Keaukaha, Hilo Bay.

According to Haws, the gap in key information is due to the highly diverse nature of production methods, systems, and species that are cultured in �鶹��ý. Aquaculture spans from breeding shrimp in land-based systems to farming hamachi (kāhala) in open-ocean cages. However, current studies fail to capture the economic dynamics of these diverse regions.

“�鶹��ý and the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands have relatively weak capacity for aquaculture economics since there are no dedicated aquaculture economists, although some economic specialists contribute to research in this area,” Haws said. “Results from this work, as well as the relationships developed through the consortium, will help compensate for this.”

�鶹��ý expertise

PACRC will lead the �鶹��ý component of the project and develop educational materials, online tools for industry and other users, and assist with farm economic studies.

Diverse collaboration

Project collaborators are a geographically diverse group of economists and extension specialists with backgrounds in freshwater, coastal, marine, and recirculating aquaculture systems. Led by Virginia Tech, a public land-grant research university, the group also draws expertise from institutions across the nation such as Mississippi State University, Texas A&M University, University of Maryland, University of Alaska, Morgan State University, Maine Aquaculture Association, University of Guam and University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, to address challenges facing the domestic aquaculture industry.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Sea Grant is providing funding for the establishment of the Aquaculture Economics and Markets Collaborative over the next two years.

—By Susan Enright

A previously undocumented oyster species has been recognized for the first time in �鶹��ý by a team of students and faculty at the in a collaborative project with community partners.

The work was done as part of a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience, commonly called a CURE project, by a genetics class with lab work () taught by Jolene Sutton, assistant professor of biology at UH Hilo. CURE projects are large-scale, where an entire class works together to tackle a single research question.

“We brought the oysters into the class and the students did everything from start to finish,” said Sutton. “They did the DNA extraction, amplified a gene that’s typically used for DNA barcoding, did the analysis and then wrote a report on what they found.”

Benefits of the discovery

The genetic study by UH Hilo students expands the known range of the western Pacific Ostrea equestris, a species previously documented in China, Japan and New Zealand, by providing the first verification of its occurrence in �鶹��ý. The discovery has been .

The students’ findings may prove useful for the state’s aquaculture industry.

“This task of identifying the different oysters in �鶹��ý offers some potential to diversify the markets,” explained Sutton. “This could be something that is marketable for food, since people do eat the Ostrea species. If this is a species that grows really well and is already here, maybe this is a good option for aquaculture purposes.”

Sutton’s co-authors on the paper include students Keinan Agonias, Nicole Antonio, Brandi Bautista, Riley Cabarloc, Maata Fakasieiki, Noreen Aura Mae Gonong, Torey Ramangmou, Lavin Uehara and Jade Wong; two graduate student teaching assistants Jared Nishimoto and Jeremy Schrader; Maria Haws, director of the UH Hilo , and colleagues Marni Rem-McGeachy, Hope Helg, Daniel Wilkie and David Littrell; and Rhiannon Chandler, executive director of .

—By Leah Sherwood, a graduate student in the tropical conservation biology and environmental science program at UH Hilo

Oysters raised at the (PACRC) at the are being used to improve ocean water quality in Māʻalaea Harbor on Maui. The project is headed by .

“Oysters are nature’s most efficient water filters; they eat by pumping large volumes of water through their bodies and in the process, they capture sediment and pollutants from the water column,” said Amy Hodges, programs manager at Maui Nui Marine Resource Council. “Our goal is to use the oyster’s natural filter feeding abilities to make Māʻalaea Bay cleaner and healthier for fishing, swimming, paddling and surfing.”

Maui Nui Marine Resource Council is conducting this project in partnership with , a neighbor island nonprofit.

The first oyster project of this type in �鶹��ý was launched to restore native oysters to actively improve water quality and clarity at locations around the island of Oʻahu.

More than 10,000 oysters produced at the UH Hilo aquaculture center have been out-planted at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, the Marine Corps Base at Kāneʻohe Bay, the �鶹��ý Yacht Club and the Waikiki Yacht Club in the Ala Wai Harbor, and most recently at Honolulu Community College’s Marine Education and Training Center at Sand Island.

• Related UH News story: UH Hilo center grows oysters and the aquaculture workforce, March 4, 2018

Hodges explained that the oysters installed in Māʻalaea are Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) which are found throughout the main Hawaiian Islands. After months in the nursery at the university’s aquaculture center, the young oysters are now believed to be large and hardy enough to survive the heavily sedimented waters of Māʻalaea Harbor. The oysters will live in cages below the water surface and away from boat traffic. They were raised triploids, meaning they are sterile and likely unable to reproduce.

UH Hilo center grows oysters and the aquaculture workforce

Native oysters cultured at the University of �鶹��ý at Hilo will be used to improve water clarity and quality at Sand Island, Honolulu. At ceremonies in October to launch the project, baskets of oysters were placed in the water at Honolulu Community College’s (METC) and the ’s mooring area.

Students from ‘s marine science classes contributed to the project by measuring and then placing the oysters in the water prior to a ceremonial blessing. Hawaiian prayer, chants and other protocols were also offered.

The oysters filter between 20 and 45 gallons of water per day, depending on their size, removing harmful pollutants including sediment, bacteria, heavy metals, PCBs (a group of toxic, man-made chemicals), oil, microplastics, sunscreen chemicals and nutrients from the water column, which improves water clarity and quality. This is the sixth Oʻahu location utilizing native oysters for water quality improvement.

“We also have [oysters] in Hilo Bay, which was the first place in �鶹��ý where this was attempted starting in 2011,” said Maria Haws, director of the Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resource Center. “All of these are pilot efforts to obtain more data on growth and survival. The results have been good so far, so we’ll be expanding from 10,000 now out in the field to a total of 14,000 next month. Maui also has a site where we will use triploid Pacific Oysters with outplanting in December.”

• Related UH News story: UH Hilo center grows oysters and the aquaculture workforce, March 4, 2018

The oyster project to improve water quality at the METC was created through a collaborative partnership of UH Hilo, the and the Polynesian Voyaging Society. The partners hope to encourage bio-remediation of the area’s waters and also to develop an educational program supporting these efforts. It was inspired by the in New York Harbor, which ’s crew visited when the canoe sailed to New York City in 2016.

UH Hilo center grows oysters and the aquaculture workforce

—By Susan Enright

The (PACRC) at the is working with the U.S. Navy and Oʻahu Waterkeeper to use native species of shellfish to improve water clarity and quality in the Pearl Harbor estuary.

The partnership is the first large-scale effort to use native shellfish species for harbor water quality improvement, modeled on research trials by the UH Hilo aquaculture center with the native Hawaiian oyster species in Hilo Bay.

The partnership plans to use two species of oyster native to Pearl Harbor—Dendostrea sandvicensis (Hawaiian oyster) and Pinctada margaritifera (black-lip pearl oyster).

“We are developing hatchery production methods for native bivalve species, in part because many local species have become rare and may possibly require protection,” said Maria Haws, associate professor of aquaculture and PACRC director. “For example, the black-lip pearl oyster is already a protected species under state law.”

Oysters serve as a filter

Native oysters filter between 20 and 45 gallons of water per day, depending on their size, removing harmful pollutants including sediment, bacteria, heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), oil, microplastics, sunscreen chemicals and nutrients from the water column, which improves water clarity and quality.

Oysters also remove carbon from the water and use it to build their shells, underscoring their importance in our changing climate and marine environment.

The project builds on a successful feasibility study conducted by the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Aquatic Resources, utilizing a nonnative species, Crassostrea gigas (Pacific oyster), as a tool to improve clarity and quality of waters within Pearl Harbor.

While the Pacific oyster survives and grows well in Pearl Harbor, and it may continue to be used for bioremediation, the new project will focus on native shellfish species because of their deep cultural significance. Researchers hope to replenish and restore these native species to the marine ecosystem.

For more on the Pearl Harbor project, .

—From UH Hilo Stories

The University of �鶹��ý and state agencies formed a partnership to raise �鶹��ý’s global visibility in marine aquaculture and to capitalize on the commercial opportunities available worldwide. The partners are the (HSDC), University of �鶹��ý, UH Ventures, LLC and (NELHA).

“The establishment of a �鶹��ý aquaculture accelerator and a related investment fund is an effort to demonstrate the state’s commitment to developing �鶹��ý’s commercial aquaculture industry and to focus entrepreneur and investor interest on �鶹��ý as a location for globally relevant aquaculture companies,” said HSDC President Karl Fooks. “The initiative will also be focused on attracting investor capital and a follow-on fund for aquaculture in �鶹��ý to develop technical and intellectual property that can benefit a global industry.”

According to UH Vice President for Research and Innovation , the initiative will provide proof-of-concept and commercialization services to start-ups in �鶹��ý’s aquaculture cluster. “It is critical that we work together to promote innovation as a new economic growth engine that will spark new industry technologies, maintain our competitiveness and generate new high-wage job opportunities for our students,” said Syrmos. “The project will build upon our existing regional strengths in aquaculture research, including programs at UH Mānoa’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, UH �ᾱ����’s Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center and the UH Sea Grant College Program, which have been focused on advancing long-term sustainable use and conservation of coastal areas worldwide through aquaculture and resource management for many years.”

The partnership seeks to create a facility and program at NELHA, using the world-class facilities to attract entrepreneurs in startups, help them get into the market and find a commercial space for their project.

“We will continue to pursue strategic relationships such as this to allow NELHA to maintain its competitive advantage and make available to the global aquaculture community an asset found only in very few places around the world,” said NELHA Executive Director Gregory Barbour. “The effort will focus on launching and scaling startups in the developing cluster of aquaculture companies operating in �鶹��ý that service global markets, develop new cultured species, pioneer new feed sources and the technologies needed to support open ocean and land-based aquaculture.”

The partnership is also receiving guidance and advice from key representatives, including the Department of Agriculture, Agribusiness Development Corporation, �鶹��ý Technology Development Corporation and Ulupono Initiative.

Tanks full of ornamental fish and oysters are bubbling on the Big Island at the University of �鶹��ý at Hilo . Here, hundreds of students have gained valuable hands-on experience at the nine-acre center in Keaukaha, developing aquaponics and raising ornamental and food fish, shellfish and algae throughout the year.

UH Hilo Associate Professor Maria Haws serves as the center’s director. She says about 400 students have been employed since workforce training started there in 2008.

“We (also) have interns and volunteers and research students. They’ve learned everything about aquaculture production, everything from the hatchery, where we might produce juvenile fish or juvenile oysters, everything up to the actual farming of these organisms,” says Haws.

has the only four-year in the state, and the center has the only facility dedicated to aquaculture and coastal management education, research and outreach to the community and industry.

“I get to do a lot with fish and fish rearing systems so I get that hands-on knowledge that I wouldn’t get if I was just sitting in a classroom,” says Orion Friels, a sophomore majoring in aquaculture. “I feel like I’m learning a lot more this way.”

Hope Helg earned her agroecology degree from UH Hilo in 2011. Today she manages the algae laboratory that feeds oysters and other marine organisms at the center.

Helg says working at the center as a student prepared her and others well. “It’s a good way of critical thinking and being creative, and it sets students up for the future in the real world,” she said.

Besides training the workforce and researchers of tomorrow, the UH Hilo center is helping to develop sustainable seafood production.

“We import 80 percent of our seafood in �鶹��ý. What could be more important than trying to be more self-reliant in food and also conservation?” asks Haws. “Almost everything we do in aquaculture has a tie to conservation if not directly influencing conservation efforts.”

The center’s work is gaining national recognition. It is a partner with as a Center of Excellence for Sustainable Aquaculture and received National Sea Grant funding for oyster farming in Hilo Bay.

—By Kelli Trifonovitch

The University of �鶹��ý  received $149,972 to develop new opportunities in shellfish farming for �鶹��ý and the U.S. affiliated Pacific Islands. It was among 18 Sea Grant programs around the country to receive funding from NOAA Sea Grant to advance the development of a sustainable marine and coastal aquaculture industry in the United States.

The 32 projects were funded a total of $9.3 million in federal grants, and will help spur the development and growth of shellfish, finfish and seaweed aquaculture businesses throughout the nation.

Maria Haws, director of the at the , is leading the project. “It is well known that mariculture has tremendous potential to help �鶹��ý become more self-sufficient in seafood, which would be very beneficial to our local residents,” she said. “However, opportunities to establish small farms are very limited compared to those on the mainland due to strict regulations and the high cost of starting a farm.”

Haws went on to explain how the project would help the state address this issue. “To lower barriers to oyster farming in nearshore waters, we will assess the feasibility of forming a cooperative or other employee-owned corporation,” she said. “A group of local individuals and small businesses will work with us to test this concept. In addition, we are working on developing land-based mariculture systems that could also be operated by community members or small businesses.”

Although the pilot project is based in Hilo, the results from the study will be instrumental in helping other island communities throughout the state to develop similar businesses.

Nationwide, all of the projects include public-private partnerships and will be led by university-based Sea Grant programs. With each project, every two federal dollars of funding is matched by non-federal funds, bringing the total investment in these research projects to $13.9 million.

—By Cindy Knapman