University of Hawaiʻi was designated as a new Pacific Reef Research Coordination Institute by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to support coral reef conservation in the Pacific Ocean through research, collaboration and public education.
The institute will be housed in the university’s Office of Land and Ocean Conservation Futures, under the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, and will perform the following critical functions:
- Conduct federally directed research to fill national and regional gaps.
- Collaborate with relevant states and territories, indigenous groups, coral reef managers, non-governmental organizations and other coral reef research centers.
- Assist in the implementation of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Coral Reef Resilience Strategy and coral reef action plans.
- Build non-federal capacity for management and restoration practices.
- Conduct public education and awareness programs.
“This new institute combines [University of Hawaiʻi]’s strengths in cutting-edge, ocean-related research and our collaborative, place-based approach to working with resource managers throughout Hawaiʻi and the Pacific to protect our vital coral reefs,” said University of Hawaiʻi Interim Vice President for Research and Innovation Chad Walton in announcing the new designation. “At the same time, it provides us with further opportunities to develop our region’s next generation of researchers and managers in the field of conservation futures.”
To restore and preserve coral reef ecosystems in the United States from natural and human-related effects, the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000 was reauthorized and modernized by the Restoring Resilient Reefs Act of 2021, which was included in the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act that became law in 2022.
Designation of two reef research coordination institutes was required by the reauthorized law, one each in the Atlantic and Pacific basins. They were chosen from 32 preselected coral reef research centers and designated based on the results of technical merit and panel reviews.
Hawaiʻi U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono as well as Congressman Ed Case introduced and sponsored the Restoring Resilient Reefs Act of 2021.
The institute will be guided by experienced reef researchers from University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Kewalo Marine Laboratory and Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo’s Marine Sciences program and University of Guam’s Marine Laboratory.
It will support research, monitoring, capacity building and outreach for coral reef management throughout the United States, including Hawaiʻi, and its territories of American Samoa, Guam, and Northern Marianas Islands as well as with the Freely Associated States of the Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau and Republic of the Marshall Islands.
“Many people worked many years to make this vision for collaborative reef research across the Pacific a reality,” said Office of Land and Ocean Conservation Futures Director Suzanne Case in the announcement. “We’re excited to jump in with scientists and communities and agencies across the region to take it forward.”
