Kaʻū News Briefs Thursday, September 20, 2018

     Caulifower coral is identified by its many branches, which are colonies of single celled organisms that live together to form coral. Coloring ranges from creme to green to pink. It lives on rocky reefs in shallow water. The way that bleaching kills the coral is through the single cells - the zooxanthellae - living in the coral branches and base leaving their homes. They either find a place to resettle or die.

     The Center for Biological Diversity issued a press release, saying, cauliflower coral suffered a 36 percent drop in coverage across Hawaiʻi from 1999 to 2012. "Cauliflower corals are in crisis, so this is great news. We need to take care of our coral reefs to maintain a healthy biodiversity in our oceans," said Maxx Phillips, Hawaiʻi director at the Center. "Federal action is urgently need to protect cauliflower coral, called Koʻa in Hawaiian, and our coral ecosystems that are dying out from ocean warming and climate change."

Cauliflower coral bleaching victim in nearshore waters of the west coast of Hawaiʻi Island. Photo from Kawaihae Reef

     The CBD statement also said, "Protecting corals ultimately requires reducing global temperature increases by drastically cutting fossil fuel emissions. The cauliflower coral is also threatened locally by land-based pollution, sedimentation and physical disturbance caused by human activities."

     Courthouse News Service quoted Miyoko Sakashita, Oceans Department programs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, saying that listing cauliflower coral under the Endangered Species Act will ensure "that any federal activity that's funded or permitted by federal agencies that may affect that coral would need to go through a consultation and mitigate the impacts to the coral.

     "There sometimes are misunderstandings that it will stop people from being able to fish or go and stop people from being able to use the beaches or canoe over the waters, but that's not what the act does. Its main mechanism is to look at federal activities and make sure those are not harming the corals," Sakashita told Courthouse News reporter Amanda Pampuro.

     See the NOAA website for public input, Center for Biological Diversity, and Courthouse News.

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THE PORTUGUESE CELEBRATION IN PĀHALA THIS SATURDAY will draw together many people from Kaʻū to share the stories of their families who sailed to Hawaiʻi on a journey that took them across the Atlantic, around the southern point of South America, and across the vast Pacific to their new island home.
     The first ship was the Priscilla, which arrived Sept. 30, 1878, with 120 Madeira Islanders. The second ship left Funchal on April 23, 1879, took exactly four months to cross the Atlantic Ocean, round Cape Horn, and sail across the Pacific to Honolulu. Among the passengers were Manuel Nunes, Augusto Dias, Jose do Espirito Santo, and Joao Fernandes, who are credited with introducing the ʻukulele to Hawaiʻi.
     Many of the Portuguese settlers worked at the sugar companies in Kaʻū. They became ranchers, paniolo and leaders in the Catholic Church.
     Portuguese names, like Amaral, Andrade, Baruz, Lorenzo, Louis, Marques, Pedra, Pestano, Silva and Vierra are well known in Kaʻū, with many families of Hawaiian and Portuguese ancestry.
    Celebrate the 140th anniversary at Pāhala Community Center on Saturday, Sept. 22, from 11 a..m to 2 p.m. Saudades, The Longing: 2018 Commemoration of the 140th Anniversary of the Arrivals of Hawaiʻi's First Portuguese Immigrant Families is an islandwide traveling presentation, free and open to the public.

Image from Wikipedia

     In addition to the Pāhala gathering, the presentation will be made on Sunday, Sept. 30, in Hilo, at Aunty Sally Kaleohano's Luau House, at 3 p.m. That presentation will be preceded by a blessing of the Hawaiʻi Island Portuguese Chamber of Commerce Cultural and Educational Center at 2 p.m., with a blessing and reception - requiring RSVP to Raul Castro, 808-238-6604 - to follow.
     Also, on Friday, Sept. 28, Hilo's ʻImola Astronomy Center Planetarium will hold the first showing of Portuguese in Hawaiʻi, a documentary by Nelson Ponta Garca, at 3:45 p.m. Featuring entertainment by Carlos Avalon. Tickets are $10 donation. Also starting at 3:45 p.m., going until 9 p.m., the Founder's Ball – which includes the documentary showing. Tickets and tables for the Founder's Ball, or for the documentary only, contact Jean Alves, alvesj002@hawaii.rr.com or 808-938-9283.
     Special guest: Portugal's Ambassador to the United States, Domingos Fezas Vital.