Along the Keaukaha coastline at Puhi Bay, keiki from Hawaiian language immersion program Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo are doing what most adults never get to: growing native coral in a nursery and planting it back into the reef their families have known for generations.
He Pūkoʻa Kani ʻĀina—a year-long collaboration between Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo and University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo’s Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center (PACRC)—is where scientific restoration meets traditional ʻike (knowledge). Keiki learn that the health of the coral is inseparable from the health of the ʻāina (land).
PACRC is the UH Hilo research and community-engagement facility in Keaukaha behind the coral nursery. Marine science faculty lead programs that connect directly with the broader Hawaiʻi Island community.
For more go to Kūkala Nūhou.
