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reproductive events were for future recovery of the reef – so we spent a lot of time \[unclear\] <br />observation of the reef and really looking to other information about how this correlates to the <br />lunar phase and the Kaulana Mahina – the Hawaiian lunar calendar – so that you would have a <br />really good idea of when this event might occur and how we might be able to provide some rest <br />and respite for the coral during this time, so, just a short bit about cauliflower coral spawning <br />because it really is this most amazing thing and really just – if you get an opportunity to observe <br />any coral spawning, when we go out in the water and we’re looking at the reef we see the coral <br />and it’s there but when you see a coral spawn and you see the synchronous event happen <br />all these corals are spawning at the same time it really connects you on a more personal level <br />and make you realize like these are a living organism and so cauliflower coral and most corals in <br />general – this is a synchronous event – it all happens at the same time – even across the whole <br />archipelago. So this will happen within like 30 minutes or so of each other across the whole <br />archipelago which is pretty amazing. Environmental cues all come together to actually cue the <br />coral to cue \[unclear\] material in to the water so this can be tide, lunar phase, water <br />temperature, currents – all these different things come together to actually cue the coral <br />colonies to release that reproductive material so that first, even happens and then the sperm <br />and the egg they come together and form the planulae – these are actually like a little platonic <br />phase of coral that float around in the current lines and then are cued again from the reef to <br />actually settle and they will be in that place for the rest of their life so it’s a really interesting and <br />amazing thing and as I’ve been able to witness this event over time it’s just really given me an <br />increased respect and appreciation for coral. So we initiated a rest period at Kahaluu during <br />cauliflower coral spawning season and in partnership with the County of Hawaii, Division of <br />Aquatic Resources, we really felt like this was a respectful way to allow this coral to recover and <br />we didn’t know if it would work, we didn’t know what would happen but a lot of people, you <br />know, wonder why at Kahaluu why maybe not at other places, and we know that there’s – as I <br />mentioned in the beginning – Kahaluu is really a wahi pana – a sacred and story place, like I said <br />I don’t have too much time but we know there’s a lot of history and importance there and so <br />the other thing is that because it’s such a small shallow bay – it gets a lot of physical damage – a <br />lot of human impact. Additionally, we’re counting closer to almost 500,000 visitors a year so <br />400,000 or 500,000 visitors just began puts a ton of stress on this really sensitive coral reef <br />ecosystem. We know also there’s impaired water quality from nearby cesspools, and, so the <br />other thing that we have there is this program left in place to really help provide education and <br />implement this kind of new idea of how we might be able to help coral reefs recover in this <br />stress. So, as I mentioned before, 90% decline in these coral colonies across Kahaluu Bay – this <br />was 2015, 2016 – so we started our really relationship building and learning about these corals <br />in 2017. In 2018 we monitored only six living colonies – mature colonies – in Kahaluu Bay, and <br />then we had the rest period and we were actually happy to report that a few of them did spawn <br />– they did reproduce and we were like OK! You know, they’re healthy enough to actually spawn <br />and so we kinda went with that. The next year we actually observed a few new little corals that <br />had started to grow on the reef – that also gave us a lot of hope, so ever since then each year <br />it’s dictated by the lunar calendar of when the rest period is but we implemented this rest <br />period at Kahaluu to help be respectful of this really sacred event that’s happening with the <br />corals and, in hopes that it’s gonna recover that species, help to recover that species naturally <br />versus having to actually bring corals in that aren’t from Kahaluu and restore them that way. So <br />the best news here is that in 2023 we monitored twelve mature colonies – they spawned and <br />not just a little bit but they really showed this year that they were strong – they did a really <br />strong spawning and we’ve been monitoring now – I would say – this is kind of a conservative <br />estimate 80-100 from about the size of a quarter up to maybe a softball size – so we’ve just <br />10 <br /> <br /> <br />