Blog
Photo by Ryan Pernofski
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Indonesian Fisherman Becomes First Ever CORAL Conservation Prize Winner: Receives $20,000 to Support Future Work
For Immediate Release September 9, 2014 Nyoman Sugiarta, a fisherman from Bali, has been selected by the Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) as the inaugural 2014 CORAL Conservation Prize winner. Sugiarta will receive $20,000 for his leadership and dedication protecting coral reefs, and will travel to the United States later this month to collect his…
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Lawsuits and Floating Workshops Give Promise to Hawaii Reefs
On May 30, 2014, a federal court ruling found the County of Maui, which operates the Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility, to be in violation of the Clean Water Act. This ruling was in relation to injection wells which the County uses to dispose of treated wastewater effluent. The effluent travels underground through groundwater, and percolates…
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Shifting Baselines
As part of CORAL’s development team, I don’t get many opportunities to go into the field. But last month, I joined Field Programs Director Jason Vasques on a trip to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, for a series of meetings relating to our work with the Mesoamerican Reef Tourism Initiative (MARTI). Now, not only are trips…
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Maui Leaders “Dive In” to Learn About Local Coral Reefs
For Immediate Release May 31, 2014 West Maui, Hawai‘i—For some local and state leaders, Saturday began with a special tour of West Maui’s most precious natural and economic resource—our coral reefs. Participants—a “who’s who” from within area government, hotel management, and other sectors critical to Hawai‘i’s future—donned their snorkel gear to explore both healthy and stressed reefs…
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Protecting Manta Rays—and Marine Biodiversity
Talking about marine biodiversity means talking about Indonesia, says CORAL Triangle Regional Manager Naneng Setiasih: the largest archipelago in the world with 17,500 islands, Indonesia also has the highest marine biodiversity in the world, including migratory species like the manta ray. Indonesia recently declared three million square kilometers of its seas as a manta sanctuary.…
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A Diver’s Report
When Don Acheson visited Roatan, Honduras, six years ago he was dismayed to see “a lot of algae on the reef … and very little elkhorn or staghorn coral; very few anemones, sea urchins, or sea cucumbers; and very few mollusks or even empty shells.” Fast forward to 2013, when Don decided to visit Roatan…
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Making Scientific Research Relevant
Scientific research has great potential to inform conservation efforts. All too often, however, scientific results that could be useful languish on library shelves (or get lost in the cloud) instead. Some researchers make concerted efforts to address real-world questions, but these attempts frequently fail because the researchers do not fully understand what kind of information…
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Visiting Reefs and Rain Gardens with the Mayor of Maui County
On a beautiful and uncharacteristically calm afternoon in February, Maui County’s Mayor, Alan Arakawa, arrived at Kahekili Beach Park, barefoot and carrying a mask and fins in a bucket. Mayor Arakawa was eager to get in the water to dive with CORAL and our partners from the West Maui Ridge to Reef Initiative and the…
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CORAL Field Peeps—Wes Crile
Wes Crile thinks it takes a watershed to save a reef. Sound daunting? Not to him—he views it as a great opportunity. Since joining CORAL as a Hawai‘i field manager in January, he has been busy getting to know his new watershed in Maui. Because Maui is an island, he says, some of its water…