**IMPORTANT PARK NOTICES**
Monitor local surf and weather reports prior to your park visit.
•
[KAUAʻI] UPDATED 6/17/24 – Polihale State Park: Queen's Pond access Road is CLOSED June 17-21 (m-f) for rock placement. Pedestrian traffic should be aware of heavy equipment traversing through the area. The park remains open - visitors should access via Cane Top access road and points beyond.
•
[HAWAI’I] UPDATED 6/10/24 –'Akaka Falls State Park is now fully open. There will be a brief closure later this month (June 24-28, m-f), for additional repair work.
•
[KAUAʻI] UPDATED 6/18/24 –Kalalau Trail, Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park: Camping permits held back for local residents during summer, see Kalalau Trail site for more information.
•
[KAUAʻI] UPDATED 6/18/24 – Kōkeʻe State Park: The gate to Puʻu O Kila Lookout will be closed to vehicular traffic due to road repairs beginning 3/19/24. The lookout will still be accessible by pedestrians, parking is available at Kalalau lookout.
•
[HAWAI'I] UPDATED 6/18/24 - West Hawaii State Parks to close early on the 4th of July at 5 PM. Parks effected are: Kekaha Kai SP—Mahai’ula section and Manini’owali (Kua Bay) section, Kiholo SPR, Hapuna Beach SRA and Waialea section
Coral Spawning Prompts Temporary Closures at Waialea Bay Marine Life Conservation District
Posted on May 25, 2021(KAILUA-KONA) – Two, half-day closures on May 28 and 29 at Waialea Bay Marine Life Conservation District (MLCD), will allow corals to spawn and produce new keiki.
The beach at Waialea is known locally as Beach 69 and the 35-acre bay is one of eleven MLCDs in Hawai‘i, which enjoy the highest level of protection for their invaluable marine resources.
The half-day closures at Waialea come on the heels of this month’s closures at Hawai‘i County’s Kahalu‘u Bay. During that spawning period, observers saw evidence of natural reproduction of cauliflower coral.
Christopher Teague, an aquatic biologist with the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR), said, “The absence of swimmers and snorkelers in the water during spawning will help best ensure successful reproduction.” DAR staff and personnel from the DLNR Division of State Parks will be at Waialea both mornings to answer questions and to help educate people about coral spawning.
In advance of the spawning events at Kahalu‘u, Cindi Punihaole, the director of the Kahalu‘u Bay Education Center explained, “During these spawning events, corals emit reproductive materials known as gametes into the water column, which are carried by the tides to mix and generate planktonic coral larvae. When given the chance to settle undisturbed, the gametes have a greater chance of settling and growing in the bay.”
Lower numbers of people in MLCDs, like Waialea, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and greater awareness about the impacts of sunscreens on aquatic life, have enhanced the growth and recovery of coral life in West Hawai‘i.
Corals spawn during specific moon cycles in the spring. Brian Neilson, DAR Administrator said, “We want to give corals every chance possible to reproduce. Cauliflower coral, in particular, were hammered in both 2015 and 2019 by elevated ocean temperatures which led to mass bleaching events. This, along with all the other environmental stressors reef systems across the state currently face, makes it imperative that we all put up with a bit of inconvenience during spawning.”
Waialea Bay will reopen at noon this Friday and Saturday, but biologists are hoping people will delay their ocean activities for another day or so, as it can take up to 24-hours for corals to successfully reproduce and up to a week or more for new larvae to settle back onto the reef.
