LIHUE — A species of coral that environmentalists say is at risk from climate change could need U.S. protections across its entire range — not just in Hawaii, federal officials have found.
The National Marine Fisheries Service last week issued a finding on a March petition seeking Endangered Species Act protections for cauliflower coral, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.
The agency says it will conduct a review on whether the coral requires protections throughout the Indo-Pacific and Eastern Pacific, where it’s found on most shallow reefs. It also is found in Hawaii.
Cauliflower coral has been devastated by habitat changes, disease, predators and other factors tied to climate change, including ocean acidification, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, which petitioned for the coral to be protected as a threatened or endangered species.
In just Hawaii, there was a 36.1 percent drop in coverage of the coral from 1999 to 2012, the group said.
“Cauliflower corals are in crisis, so this is great news,” Maxx Phillips, the group’s Hawaii director, said of the federal finding. “We need to take care of our coral reefs to maintain a healthy biodiversity in our oceans.”
He said U.S. action is needed to protect the species as well as “our coral ecosystems that are dying out from ocean warming and climate change.”
On Kauai, local divers have pointed out places like Anini Bay, where they have found pink cauliflower corals — and other types of corals — starting to grow and foster a more developed ecosystem.
Diver Terry Lilley reported in March he’d seen eight inches of growth in some corals over 2017 and Harry Rabin, with ReefGuardians, said he’s seen more fish in the area.
In 2014 and 2015, warming ocean temperatures were blamed for the world’s third bleaching event, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and studies showed the event really hammered Hawaii’s corals.
Nearly 50 percent of Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve bleached, and bleaching was also observed on Maui and in areas of Oahu’s Kaneohe Bay, as well as on Kauai’s North Shore.
In 2017, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Aquatic Resources developed a coral reef recovery plan in conjunction with NOAA, University of Hawaii and The Nature Conservancy.
Decreasing environmental stressors and bolstering coral population were some of the strategies for promoting coral recovery after the bleaching events.
The document outlines strategies like securing the substrate for coral larvae, protection of herbivores in the ecosystem and control of algal growth. In the lab, scientists have been working to find ways to improve the resilience of corals, and propositions run the gamut from transplanting and fertilizing corals to genetic engineering.
The National Marine Fisheries Service released its decision Thursday.
“We find that the petition and other readily available information in our files indicates that P. meandrina may warrant listing as a threatened species or an endangered species throughout its range,” the agency said. “Thus, we will initiate a global status review of P. meandrina to determine whether listing it throughout its range is warranted.”
A proposal for a threatened or endangered listing could come early next year because the agency is required to provide a decision within 12 months of the petition being filed.
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Jessica Else, environment reporter, can be reached at 245-0452.
Associated Press and Hawaii Tribune-Herald contributed to this article.
