After 35 years, the (Hawaiʻi Sea Grant) will conclude its leading role in the . In partnership with the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Parks and Recreation, they built a national model for promoting marine conservation through education, stewardship and community engagement.
The program was born in 1990 out of growing public concern over the environmental impacts of more than 3 million to 4 million annual visitors to the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve. The City’s Hanauma Bay Management Plan called for reducing visitor numbers, curbing commercial activity, and providing every visitor with structured environmental education to help protect the bay’s fragile ecosystem. To meet these goals, the city partnered with Hawaiʻi Sea Grant to provide curriculum, research, staffing and materials. Together, they established the Hanauma Bay Education Program—the first initiative in the nation to combine on-site visitor education with active stewardship of a protected marine area.
Since its inception, the program has educated an estimated 38 million residents and visitors about the cultural and ecological significance of the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve while promoting responsible practices to protect its coral reef ecosystem. Hawaiʻi Sea Grant education specialists designed interpretive displays, trained volunteer docents, and developed the award-winning orientation film that every visitor views before entering the bay.
“Through this arrangement, the City gained the prestige of having the State’s highest institute of education as its Hanauma Bay partner, and also gained access to other University experts, such as planners, architects, translators, lawyers, geologists, botanists, historians, etc. At the same time, the University of Hawaiʻi had a showcase for its future teachers and scientists, and became recognized as a model for other areas around the world,” said Alan Hong, former manager of the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve.
As the City and County of Honolulu takes the lead in building on the program’s success and carrying its legacy forward, Hawaiʻi Sea Grant turns its focus onward and toward expanding support for conservation, education and community engagement across Hawaiʻi and throughout the Pacific region.
“The protection of Hanauma Bay, one of Hawaiʻi’s most visited natural sites, hinges on people understanding that the coastal and ocean environments are living entities,” said Darren Lerner, director of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant. “We are honored that Sea Grant’s leadership helped create and sustain a program that serves as a global model for community-driven conservation and we look forward to developing new partnerships in support of protecting Hawaiʻi’s treasured places and inspiring future generations to care for and restore our ocean home.”
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–By Cindy Knapman
