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University of Hawai‘i Center for Smart Building and Community Design


Sea Grant exists to serve the needs of coastal communities and promote economic prosperity through sustainable marine and coastal resource management. As such, our Coastal Communities and Economies theme encompasses all UH Sea Grant activities. Sea Grant promotes the concept of sustainability for coastal communities and economies by creating a networking environment where an ever-increasing circle of students, faculty, government agencies, and community organizations are introduced to sustainable solutions to coastal community problems that preserve the integrity of resources and quality of life for future generations.

Working with the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Smart Growth Office, the UH School of Architecture, the City and County of Honolulu and other partners, UH Sea Grant is facilitating the adoption of Smart Growth principles both within the UH System and throughout the State.

UH Sea Grant is also supporting the development of an undergraduate/graduate level case study course to be offered initially at UH Mānoa, and subsequently to a wider audience via distance learning in partnership with the Myron B. Thompson Academy. The courses will address four issues of concern to coastal communities: Climate and Water, Fisheries, Energy, and Ecosystems. This course will address these issues from biological, cultural, and economic perspectives.

In addition, UH Sea Grant :

UH Sea Grant is providing leadership by placing sustainability concepts at the core of all education, research, and extension efforts. With financial support from NOAA’s Office of Education and Sustainable Development, efforts are underway to develop interdisciplinary approaches for educating tomorrow’s responsible citizens to understand both the science and the social, economic, and cultural context in which public policy decisions are made.

UH Sea Grant conducts research and outreach efforts to promote economic, cultural and environmentally sustainable aquaculture activities that reduce pressure on capture fisheries and meet the increasing demand for seafood.

UH Sea Grant aquaculture extension activities are jointly funded through the State of Hawai‘i Aquaculture Development Program , and focus on industry development to diversify the State’s economy. Ongoing extension activities and support have helped increase the number of aquaculture enterprises in the Hawaiian Islands to more than 126 commercial farms with aggregate sales of $22 million. Aquaculture is the fastest growing agricultural sector in Hawai‘i’s economy, with increases in both the number of farms and product output.

Aquaculture extension connects Hawai‘i and U.S.- affiliated insular Pacific aquafarmers with researchers who develop technologies to improve production capabilities, hatchery operations, husbandry practices and identification of new culture species, resulting in cutting-edge technology transfer. For an example of research that can directly benefit aquaculture endeavors, please see Diseases of Opakapaka (Kent et al. 2002).

To increase production efficiency and number of viable aquaculture enterprises, aquaculture extension staff provide technical assistance and information to aquafarmers, educators, and researchers, as well as assistance to new farmers with business planning, operations design, and management programs. UH Sea Grant’s established extension network develops cooperative projects between the private and public sectors, identifies new species with market potential, identifies and overcomes constraints to future expansion, and encourages consumers to buy locally grown aquaculture products.

Aquaculture extension staff are partnering with resource agencies and businesses to build Hawai‘i’s freshwater ornamentals industry, restore and revitalize Hawaiian fishponds, and identify additional species for culture. The aquaculture extension network continuously expands to include additional institutions and experts. In the Pacific, extension staff are helping island communities build sustainable industries for giant clams, black pearl oysters, sponges, and aquarium species.

Community outreach and public education are also important components of the aquaculture extension program achieved through workshops, technical reports, tip sheets, site visits and other means.

UH Sea Grant will explore new research opportunities for solving coastal problems through the development of a marine biotechnology industry in the state. Marine biotechnology offers a path to diversifying the narrow based tourism economy that dominates Hawai‘i and other Pacific islands.

UH and commercial organizations can play an essential and complementary roles in delivering the benefits of science to Hawai‘i’s biotechnology sector. Hawai‘i is uniquely positioned to meet the competitive nature of the industry in key sectors where research, innovative companies and entrepreneurs already exist.

Hawai‘i’s growing biotechnology enterprise and its sectors — agriculture, marine sciences, human therapeutics, and the environment — will become important sources of quality jobs and long-term economic growth in the state.

UH Sea Grant provides science-based information to conserve, restore, and sustainably use Hawai‘i’s diminishing nearshore and coastal resources, with focus on invasive species, nonpoint source pollution overfishing and freshwater.

By collaborating with industry, governmental agencies and the public, UH Sea Grant works to solve resource-related problems and help state and local governments develop standardized environmental monitoring procedures that better protect coastal biota and waters. UH Sea Grant also assists communities in learning about natural processes and human influences that affect coastal and nearshore marine ecosystems, enabling their effective participation in resource management decisions.

Coral reefs and anchialine pools are unique but threatened Hawaiian habitats. In an effort to develop more reef habitat, and explore the applicability of fisheries and habitat enhancement technology for Hawaiian waters, UH Sea Grant helped develop and demonstrate artificial reefs specifically designed for enhanced fishery resources. UH Sea Grant is defining human-induced impacts on anchialine systems and developing management strategies to protect this dwindling resource.

UH Sea Grant seeks to minimize the social and economic impacts of natural and human-induced hazards and disasters through extension activities that transfer the results of coastal processes research to state and federal agencies and the general public. Hawai‘i state and county mandates, coupled with community feedback, guide the UH Sea Grant Coastal Natural Processes and Hazard priority area which addresses shoreline erosion, hurricanes, tsunamis, and floods.

In a model example of the research to outreach/application, UH Sea Grant extension staff worked with a UH researcher to transfer research results demonstrating the utility of rate-based erosion setbacks in Maui County, where coastal erosion rates average one foot per year and in some areas with rates as high as seven feet per year. After more than five years of outreach, Maui County adopted the new science-based setback regulations which will protect Maui’s remaining beaches and reduce property and beach loss due to construction of homes and seawalls to near the shoreline in erosion prone areas.

UH Sea Grant extension efforts have also demonstrated that coastal sand dune preservation is needed to preserve beaches and protect coastal structures from storm damage. As a result, Maui County is in the final stages of adopting a more restrictive ordinance for grading in shoreline areas. UH Sea Grant also raised awareness within Maui County that soft erosion control (i.e. sand berms) is often preferable to shoreline hardening (seawalls, etc.) because it protects beaches and provides storm damage protection. As a result, private organizations are initiating beach nourishment in front of their coastal properties.

In response to the extensive boating community damage from Hurricane Iniki’s Hawai‘i landfall in 1992, UH Sea Grant produced the Hawai‘i boater’s manual and fast response safety card, used extensively throughout the State and insular Pacific.

UH Sea Grant provides leadership and support to educational institutions to educate scientists, professionals, teachers and the public about the benefits of wise and sustainable stewardship of our region’s coastal and marine resources. This is achieved through traditional and charter school institutions as well as free-choice learning.

Partnering with the City and County of Honolulu , UH Sea Grant formalized the Hanauma Bay Education Program (HBEP) at the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, O‘ahu, in 1990. HBEP is the second most popular tourist destination in Hawai‘i, second only to Waikiki, provides information to over one million Bay visitors annually on coral reef ecology and snorkel and SCUBA diving etiquette. The HBEP also presents weekly public seminars by local and national speakers and conducts an education program for visiting school groups.

UH Sea Grant has brought together the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology, the Myron B. Thompson Academy, a charter school, and Lively Architects to design and renovate a historic boathouse for use as a classroom and education center that connects the University’s marine science resources to K-12 education.

In West Hawai‘i, UH Sea Grant has developed several novel ongoing marine education programs, including: ReefTalk, ReefTeach, the Miloli‘i Marine Resource Monitoring Program and Aloha Kai.

Sea Grant has enhanced opportunities for marine science education in American Samoa through the La Vai Marine Science Center at the American Samoa Community College . The marine center is poised to receive computer and multi-media equipment and related support. This facility provides a computer laboratory with internet access to students and is staffed by a UH Sea Grant extension specialist.

UH Sea Grant provides experiential environmental science education through community outreach on watershed health and management and monitoring stream water quality and flora and fauna on Kaua‘i. Field courses on these topics are provided to students from kindergarten to the community college level.

UH Sea Grant has been working with the Waipā Foundation and Kamehameha Schools in developing and implementing an Ahupua‘a Learning Center at Waipā, Kaua‘i. This partnership offers science excursions, cultural and educational workshops, a K-12 summer program, college internships and joint teaching with charter schools.

Work is also underway to develop and introduce an undergraduate/graduate level course of case studies in sustainability that mirrors the four NOAA strategic planning goals: Ecosystems management; climate variability; weather and water information; and safe, environmentally sound transportation.

Through economic development that maintains natural resource integrity, Hawai‘i’s tourism industry can both expand and conserve the very resources that visitors seek to experience. UH Sea Grant provides science-based information to the State and communities to assist them in ameliorating visitor impact and promote sustainable tourism by identifying both challenges and solutions to Hawai‘i’s tourism industry. Efforts directed toward sustainable tourism are also encompassed by activities in our Coastal Communities and Economies Theme.

UH Sea Grant serves residents and visitors alike through multiple partnerships that focus on sustainable, recreational resource management that provides for enjoyable coastal experiences. Such efforts span a broad spectrum from encouraging product development and niche markets in Hawai'i’s visitor industry, such as ecotourism and cultural tourism, to efforts that reduce loss of life and property related to ocean recreation.