LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i Ocean Discovery at the Kukui Grove Center is still temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Distance learning activities have expanded,” said Jean Souza, the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Kaua‘i Program Specialist and manager of the Kaua‘i Ocean Discovery in a release. “Ho‘ike Kaua‘i Community Television and the Kaua‘i Ocean Discovery have formed a new partnership to launch a new ocean-themed video series on the public access TV channels, starting this month.”
The broadcast schedule on Channel 54 will be Tuesdays starting at 3:30 p.m., Thursdays starting at 10:30 a.m., and Saturdays starting at 3:30 p.m.
Four webinars previously shown online as educational webinars by the Office of the National Marine Sanctuaries, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations — Gardening Corals for Reef Restoration with Katie Lohr as the featured speaker, The 2018 Exploration of Strange ‘Off-Ridge’ Seamounts in the Papahanamokuakea Marine National Monument with Dr. Christopher Kelley, Studying Whales and Dolphins in the Hawaiian Archipelago with Bobin Baird, and Home Front Hawai‘i: A Naval Legacy Beneath the Sea with Hans Van Tilburg — will start the series.
“We are thrilled that Ho‘ike will be able to provide wider exposure to these recorded webinars that feature current information delivered by top scientific experts or educators,” Souza said. “Each webinar is well-illustrated and promotes ocean literacy. The videos are meant for a general audience, including families, classrooms, educators, and students.”
In the Gardening Corals presentation, Lohr speaks on coral gardening techniques for reef restoration as coral reefs around the world decline. Lohr looks at well-established and cutting-edge techniques for propagating and restoring corals as well as experimental work focused on identifying corals that can survive future ocean conditions. Lohr’s work is based in Florida, although reef restoration takes place in other locations, including Hawai‘i.
Kelley discusses the 2018 Exploration Vessel Nautilus expedition to Papahanamokuakea Marine National Monument where they explored 10 unusual seamounts located north of the Hawaiian Ridge. The origin of these seamounts is enigmatic since they form a line parallel to, but well north of the islands, atolls, banks, and seamounts created when the Pacific Plate mover over the Hawaiian hotspot. An update on the process of analyzing these samples, specimen, and videos will be provided as well as a preview of a follow-up cruise by the Nautilus being planned for 2021.
Baird speaks on long-term small-boat based studies in the main Hawaiian Islands revealing information on 11 resident species of whales and dolphins, as well as migratory and open-ocean species that visit the island. Comparisons of sightings and tagging data from the two areas, Hawai‘i and the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, suggest that there are resident populations of many species of dolphins and whales in the Papahanaumokuakea Monument that have yet to be recognized. Baird will compare what is, and isn’t known about whales and dolphins throughout the Hawaiian archipelago.
Tilburg will speak of shipwrecks and other submerged properties that tell stories of the past, including those stories about World War II in the Pacific. The Hawaiian Islands were very different during the war period, a plantation territory suddenly witness to the initial attack on Pearl Harbor, and subsequent years of intensive combat training both on land and sea. The events of this critical period have left a legacy of sites that act as windows on history, a heritage landscape.
Souza said future offerings from this partnership will include Do-It-Yourself demonstrations for children and award-winning films in the coming months.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
Source: The Garden Island