Diving into the World at Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resource Center By Brittany P. Anderson
T
he constant low hum of bubbling water provides a soothing soundtrack to the work taking place at the Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resource Center in Hiloʻs harbor area, Keaukaha, on the east side of Hawai‘i Island. The remnants of an old wastewater treatment facility still punctuate the nineacre property. A tall rusted cylindrical metal tank sits empty near the main office while two clarifiers, wide round tanks integral to the purification of sewage, are now repurposed for raising fish and oysters. The mission of the Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resource Center (PACRC) is to advance long-term sustainable solutions and conservation of worldwide coastal areas through aquaculture and proper resource management. Grants fund much of their research, while some private companies partner with the center to test pilot programs that demonstrate their proposed aquaculture venture is feasible. The center is also a learning site for University of Hawai‘i at Hilo students working towards creating a sustainable future for Hawai‘i Island and the world.
KeOlaMagazine.com | November-December 2018
The World is your Oyster Aquaculture is the rearing of aquatic animals or the cultivation of aquatic plants for food, like a water-based farm or ranch. Hawai‘i Island would seem like the perfect place for aquaculture ventures with its expansive 266 miles of coastline; however, not so says Maria Haw, Director of PACRC and Associate Aquaculture Professor. “Most of our coastlines don’t pass DOH [Department of Health] standards due to a number of reasons. We don’t have a lot of industrial contaminants, but we do have agricultural runoff and coliform, or fecal waste, in our waters.” She explains that because of the cesspool and the agriculture industry’s chemical runoff it became clear that edible shellfish could not be farmed along much of Hawai‘i Island’s coast. There are also substantial permitting roadblocks, as much of the coastline falls within the Special Management Area (SMA), making shoreline activity heavily regulated. Any and all industry operating within the SMA must obtain a permit from the Hawai‘i County Planning Department, which is a lengthy process. PACRC found that drilling a salt-water well is the best option for edible shellfish production on the east side of Hawai‘i Island. The 36 water obtained through salt-
water wells is naturally filtered by lava rock and soil allowing it to pass DOH testing requirements. Visible from Kalaniana‘ole Avenue, one of the two towering white greenhouse structures house the oyster nursery at PACRC. Millions of juvenile oysters are cultivated in large blue tanks, their every stage calculated, monitored, and cataloged. The adorable mini-oysters look like small pebbles a child might tuck into their pocket. PACRC spawns mostly Pacific oysters, raising them until they reach two millimeters then selling the oysters back to Pacific coast oyster farmers. Currently, there are five oyster hatcheries on Hawai‘i Island that supply the Pacific Coast with oyster seed. Millions of little oysters are shipped to Washington State, and then placed in farming beds along the coastline. Big names in oyster farming, like Goose Point Oysters, see Hawai‘i Island producers as stabilizing the industry, making it more sustainable and maintaining enough product to satisfy our appetites. “The student workforce sells the oyster babies and uses that money to fund their work,” Maria says. There are also several tanks of native oysters that are exceptionally good at improving