Honolulu Star-Advertiser © Susan Scott
September 8, 1997
When the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary was created in Hawaii, some people argued we didn’t need it. “Why add a federal agency to protect that which is already protected?” they asked.
There were several good answers, but one that rang clear was the promise of marine education. Federal dollars, proponents said, would go into much-needed teaching programs about preserving our humpback whales and their habitat, the ocean.
One product of that promise is the Pacific Coral Reef Coloring Book, one of the sanctuary’s responses to 1997 being designated the International Year of the Reef.
This is no run-of-the-mill coloring book: The text, written on the left, explains coral reef biology and ecology in English, Samoan and Hawaiian. The pictures, on the right, were drawn by Hawaii resident Kathleen Orr and have a distinct local flavor.
Here are some facts I learned from this book:
- The reefs with the most biodiversity (different kinds of plants and animals) are in the far western Pacific and southeast Asia. The farther you go from this rich center, the fewer species you see.
Australia, close to this coral core, has about 2,000 species of fish. American Samoa, farther away, drops to about half that with 1,000 fish species. And Hawaii, thousands of miles away from the coral reef center of the world, has less than 500 kinds of fish.
- Triton’s trumpet snails (whose shells you see in every souvenir shop from here to India) are great allies of the coral reef, both in life and in death.
In life, one of the trumpet snails’ favorite meals is the crown-of-thorns starfish, a species notorious for eating coral. After death, the trumpets’ enormous shells provide homes for equally enormous hermit crabs. Crabs are scavengers that clean the reef floor of dead plant and animal material.
We can help the reefs by never killing snails for their shells nor buying such shells in shops.
- Jacks, called ulua in Hawaiian, are often seen on coral reefs. For these strong swimmers, the reef is a hunting ground.
In contrast are butterflyfish, commonly seen on coral reefs. Some species spend their entire lives near a single clump of coral.
The sanctuary has come through with its promise of marine education. Now all we citizens have to do is take advantage of the offer.
To request these free coloring books, call 541-3184 on Oahu, 879-2818 on Maui.