Washington, D.C. -- Rep. Neil Abercrombie announced today that $6.1 million dollars in federal economic recovery funding will go to help restore Maunalua Bay on Oahu and Pelekane Bay on the Big Island.

“Funding for these two Hawaii projects is an important part of a national effort to leverage economic recovery dollars to restore coastal and marine habitats and, at the same time, generate and protect jobs for thousands of people whose work sustains the environment and helps improve our economy,” said Abercrombie, a member of the House Natural Resources Committee.

“The projects will create an estimated 79 jobs on Oahu and the Big Island. This kind of restoration work across the country will employ people with a variety of skills, ranging from laborers and engineers to ecologists and nursery workers who provide the plants for coastal restoration,” Abercrombie added.

The economic recovery funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is being provided to:

• The Nature Conservancy for the Maunalua Bay Reef Restoration project, $3,408,848. This proposal seeks to restore 23 acres of coral reefs through manual removal of invasive algae. This proven technique will enable seagrass expansion and coral recovery.
• The Kohala Center for the Pelekane Bay Watershed Restoration project, $2,696,737. This project’s will help to restore more than 1,460 acres of coastal and marine habitat by reducing sediment and runoff impacts to coral reefs through erosion control and replanting native upland vegetation. (The Kohala Center is an independent, not-for-profit, community-based center for research and education. The center builds teaching and research programs that assist communities on the Island of Hawaii, in the Pacific and around the world.)

“These funds help to continue the work to restore Pelekane Bay, which has been altered by runoff from the Pelekane Bay Watershed. Over the years, silt and sediment have covered historic sites and damaged marine life habitats,” said Abercrombie who visited the area last year to review the needs of Puukohola Heiau National Historic Site, which falls under the jurisdiction of his committee. The heiau overlooks the historic Pelekane Bay.

“The condition of Maunalua Bay on Oahu has suffered, in part, because of the growth of alien algae. Ongoing projects there in recent years have removed by hand about 18,000 pounds of the algae. This new funding will support those efforts and help to maintain work that’s needed to restore the bay’s coral reefs.” 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has selected 50 habitat restoration projects across the country in this new round of funding through the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act.

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