11-12-2017, 01:26 AM
I wondered why the coral wasn't as colorful as I remembered the last few times I went snorkeling on the Big Island. I had heard about the warm water event elsewhere where damage was more severe, but hadn't made the connection with Hawaii. (duh) The article is a brief summary and left out a lot of information. For instance the correlation: "more people, less fish" while true, is greatly oversimplified.
To gypsy's point about people trashing coral reefs, Oahu's Hanauma Bay has been sadly degraded for years before the ocean heat event. Too many ignorant tourists concentrated in a single small area. It really irks me to see people, not just kids, but also adults ignorantly stepping on coral. As far as sunscreen, it's banned at Kapoho, and fine with me. Such an easy change to make, why not play it safe for the sake of the coral.
To gypsy's point about people trashing coral reefs, Oahu's Hanauma Bay has been sadly degraded for years before the ocean heat event. Too many ignorant tourists concentrated in a single small area. It really irks me to see people, not just kids, but also adults ignorantly stepping on coral. As far as sunscreen, it's banned at Kapoho, and fine with me. Such an easy change to make, why not play it safe for the sake of the coral.