The Hanalei River Hui set a goal of establishing a straightforward, community friendly, affordable standard for monitoring the health of the watershed to assist in early detection of undesireable changes. The first phase of this study evaluates the spawning habits and health of the native fish species, o'opu nakea. Water quality samples will also be taken at inputs to the river.
Click here to see preliminary results of fish counts.
Field Technician Carrie Johnson and UH Seagrant Extension Agent Adam Asquith counting o'opu.
A PROPOSAL FOR DEVELOPING A LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL MONITORING PROGRAM FOR THE HANALEI HERITAGE RIVER
Mission: To assist the community in establishing a Long-Term Ecological Monitoring Program (LTEMP) for the Hanalei River to assure the conservation and enhancement of natural, cultural and recreational resources for the optimal benefit of the watershed.
Summary: This project will be in three phases, each one building on the last. Phase I will be to respond to community concerns and questions about the health of the ‘o’opu nakea recreational fishery and to engage the community in river stewardship through environmental education. Phase II will be to conduct a biological assessment of the health of the river, with particular attention to native amphidromous migratory species, and estuarine nursery values. Phase III will be to design and implement a long-term river monitoring program.
Phase I: (June 2000 to June 2001)
Phase I will have four components:
- Assessment of o'opu nakea spawning habitat, spawning stocks, egg and larval production,
-
Description of the o'opu recreational fishery in the Hanalei Heritage River, Kauai, Hawaii, through creel surveys.
-
Community education program including volunteer training and participation and community forums, and
Cooperation and coordination with other related Hanalei River studies, in particular water quality monitoring.
Objectives:
- Educate, engage and empower community to protect/enhance river ecosystem;
-
Establish volunteer program through education and training; trained volunteers will assist with o'opu spawning studies, creel census gathering of data on catch in the ‘o’opu nakea recreational fishery.
-
Conduct spawning stock assessment of o'opu nakea, estimate egg and larval production, and identify primary o'opu spawning habitat.
-
Conduct creel surveys to quantify catch and effort in the recreational o'opu nakea fishery;
-
Water quality monitoring of river/spawning habitat.
Phase I Project Description:
- Development of Volunteer Program. Educate, engage and empower community to protect/enhance river ecosystem through establishment of a volunteer river monitoring program. Through education and training, trained volunteers will assist with ‘o’opu spawning stock studies, with creel surveys, water quality monitoring, and other related activities (food habit studies; assessing impacts of alien species).
The volunteer training program will include three training courses and one field course on species identification. Three training courses will be offered in June - July:
1. The biology, identification and ecology of native Hawaiian amphidromous stream animals (Gordon Smith, US Fish and Wildlife Service Ecologist);
2. The Spawning Ecology of the o'opu nakea on Kauai’s north shore (Don Heacock, DAR-Kauai);
3. Fish Conservation Fundamentals, Fishery Techniques, and Creel Survey Methods (Dr. Kimberly Lowe, DAR/DLNR).
- Weekly monitoring and assessment of river at specific locations.
- Conduct o'opu nakea spawning stock assessment during spawning runs; estimate egg and larval production, identify primary o'opu spawning habitat, and identify possible threats to spawning o'opu, their eggs and larvae;
-
Conduct creel surveys during spawning runs to quantify catch and effort in the recreational o'opu nakea fishery.
-
Conduct digital recording for scientific analysis with video camera. This will be in addition to standard protocols and techniques.
- Water quality monitoring of river/spawning areas.. Weekly or bi-monthly water quality data will be collected with Hydrolab. with ability to measure total NH4, nitrate, temp., DO, % sat., pH, turbidity, conductivity, TDS, redox.
The following is the current data collected for the LTEMP o'opu counts. It has yet to be processed and no conclusions have been drawn. For further information on the species found here please see the Stream Species page.
LTEMP sites:
Distribution of O'opu at each site:
Ahupua'a~ A traditional Hawaiian approach to sustainable watershed management,
also called "Ridges to Reefs", "White Water to Blue Water", " Summit to Sea".