This project develops a process to identify areas to build climate resilience following coral bleaching events by specifically focusing on the role of herbivorous fishes. These fish feed on algae, which can prevent its overgrowth on coral reefs. For this reason, establishing a network of herbivore management areas has been identified in Hawaii’s Coral Bleaching Recovery Plan as an important solution to increase a reef’s ability to recover. Marine spatial data was used to determine locations within the nearshore waters of Maui Nui and west Hawaii that could most effectively increase reef resilience through herbivore management.
This project builds on previous efforts funded by the Office of Planning’s Coastal Zone Management Program that identified conservation features and targets that could be used to identify areas of importance for herbivore management in west Hawaii and Maui Nui, as well as previous efforts funded by PICCC that synthesized relevant climate and herbivore management spatial data layers and conducted a preliminary Marxan analysis. This project is also concurrent with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) funded project, which supports final mapmaking and expanding spatial planning capacity for the Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR).
