Do not disturb: Improving conditions for successful coral spawning

August 2021—Supporting the delicate, sacred reproductive cycle of corals is vital to their regeneration and continued survival. For the fourth consecutive year, our Kahalu‘u Bay Education Center team worked with the County of Hawai‘i to close Kahalu‘u Beach Park to the public during a critical cauliflower coral spawning period. Ancestral knowledge and the kaulana mahina (Hawaiian lunar calendar) tell us that cauliflower corals in Kahalu‘u Bay spawn shortly after the Kulu and Lāʻaukūkahi moons set in the months of Welo and Ikiiki, and this year the County closed the park for an entire week to give the coral gametes ample time to settle with minimal disruption. And we’ve started a movement: based on the past success of these closures at Kahalu‘u, the State of Hawai‘i also closed Waiālea Bay for two consecutive mornings this year to reduce stress on cauliflower corals spawning there.