SUPPORT

Student reflection activity:

  • Prompt students to think about which image is best for illustrating their conclusions and recommendations.
  • Prompt students to think about how their role impacts their recommendation for the final paper.
  • Prompt students to identify the value of coral reef ecosystems to life.
  • Prompt students to think about their favorite experience in their work with KaAMS.

Assessment:

  • Check the key content to be covered in the presentation:
    o Problem definition
    o Key questions to investigate
    o The characteristics of aircraft and remote sensing instrument
    o Plan for the investigation
    o The process of data collection
    o The process of data analysis
    o Drawing conclusions and making recommendations
  • Check the evidence supporting their results.
  • Check the evidence of team collaboration during the project.

Ideas for math lesson connections

  • Students create several of graphs, diagrams, and charts for their presentations to summarize important relationships, organize their thinking, and support their conclusions.

Related National Education Math Standards

Ideas for geography lesson connections

  • Students use maps and other geographic representations such as the classification maps to support their conclusions presentation.

Related National Education Geography Standards

Ideas for technology lesson connections

  • Word processing: Students create their own electronic journal for keeping notes on coral reefs project.
  • Spreadsheet: Students create various graphs to summarize information on coral reefs
  • Graphics: Students create pictures of Hawaiian Islands, remote sensing missions, aeronautics.
  • Presentation software: Students create a short presentation on their understanding of airborne remote sensing.
  • Web development: Students begin to develop a web-site to report their progress and what they learn during the coral reefs project.

Related National Education Science Technology Standards

 

Activity Sheet: Final Paper (C-1)

* The format of final paper(presentation) may be different according to each group's choice. However, students should include the important elements of a scientific paper such as the statement of the problem, the importance of the problem, method used in their study, conclusion, recommendation, etc. when they write a final report.


Team Members: ____________________________________________________________

The problem of study
  • What are the key questions to investigate?

Which activities (if any) around the coral reefs of Kailua Bay should be restricted to insure their lasting protection?
The Background of study
  • Why do I need to investigate this problem
    • Define my role
    • Relationship between my role and coral reef
    • The importance of coral reefs to my role
Method
  • Study plan

     

  • The process of data collection

 

  • The process of data analysis
Results

Write the results of your investigation.
Recommendation
  1. There are laws that state that there is a minimum distance within the shoreline which a house can be built (http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessioncurrent/bills/hb2185_.htm). This is to insure that the coastal environment, including the reef, is not adversely affected by the development. So without even looking at the data, the state has already established laws which should insure the health and safety of the coral reefs from additional coastal development.
      • If we look at the overall percentage of coral cover, we can see that the range of coral cover essentially stayed the same over the 2 year time period. In case you are wondering about the calculations, they are (Area fraction of category)*(Range of the fraction of living coral)*100 = range of percent of coral cover in that category. When we total up all the categories we get a range of the total percentage of coral cover in the entire image.
      • Essentially, the total range of coral cover has not changed from 1998 to 2000 so there is nothing really to worry about. In addition, the ranges provided are so big (~20%) that it would be difficult to actually quantify how the reef has changed over this short period. Unfortunately, I don't feel confident using the AVIRIS data because 12% of the image is covered by cloud and cloud shadow (see AVIRIS pie chart). In summary, coastal development on Kailua Bay has not shown any adverse effects on the coral reef ecosystem and continued development within the state laws should be permitted

     

  2. Alternative Perspective
      • Although there is essentially no change in percent coral cover over the two-year period, it doesn’t mean that coastal developments have not had an adverse effect on the coral reefs. Two years is not long enough of a period to make any statements about the health of the reefs. In addition, the Landsat ETM+ images have 30-meter spatial resolution compared to the 1-meter spatial resolution of the DMSV images. Due to the poorer spatial resolution of the ETM+ images, areas of coral cover could be overestimated and in reality the reefs could be suffering.
      • In a national and global context, coral reefs have been suffering due to the impact of coastal development. “In the U.S. alone, nearly half of all new residential development is near the ocean, and people are moving there at a rate of 3,600 per day.” (http://www.state.gov/www/global/global_issues/coral_reefs/fs-coral_coast_981019.html) The sand and fossil reef areas make up 48% of the study area as determined from the Landsat pie chart. This data is from February 12th, 2000. The pie charts show that the area covered by sand and fossil reef is 44% as determined from the AVIRIS data collected 2 months later on April 12th, 2000. However, this image has clouds and shadows in it that may reduce the accuracy of estimations. The area covered by sand and fossil reef is estimated to be 40% as determined from the Multi-spectral data collected on January 10th, 1998. These results suggest that more area is covered by non-living reef in the year 2000, than in 1998. This means that there is less live reef (algae and coral) in the year 2000 than in 1998.
      • In summary, due to the increase in the percentage of sand and fossil reefs over the two-year period coupled with the lack of long-term data on the coral reefs in Kailua Bay and the negative impact that coastal development has had in other regions of the world, it is best to err on the safe side and pass measures preventing additional development on the Kailua coast.

Examples of other recommendations

1. Commercial fishers:

The commercial fisherman could use basically the same argument as the coastal developer with the final conclusion being: Fishing in Kailua Bay has not shown any detrimental effects on the coral reefs and should continue within the existing state of Hawaii fishing regulations (see: http://www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dar/regbk/pages/marfish.html). This web site shows that fish must be minimum size to be caught. This is to insure their successful reproduction, and therefore sustain the fishing industry. One type of popular Hawaiian fish, akule, "seems to be fished in a sustainable manner" according to the following article
(http://starbulletin.com/1999/06/01/news/kokualine.html). If fishing were banned in Kailua Bay, that could set the stage for the environmentalists to make their case for banning fishing throughout Oahu. Commercial fishing is a multi-million dollar industry in Oahu and banning it would cause tremendous damage to the local economy.

Alternative Perspective: It is better to err on the side of caution and set up regulations to protect the fish population in the Kailua Bay coral reef ecosystem. We are not suggesting at outright ban on fishing, but instead a compromise of seasonal fishing which would insure the long-lasting protection of both the fishing industry and the coral reef ecosystem. In conclusion, to maintain the health of the Kailua Bay coral reef ecosystem, fishing would only be allowed during certain times of the year and permits would be required during the appropriate season.

2. Ocean Tourist:

As a tourist to the Hawaiian Islands, snorkeling and scuba diving among the coral reefs is one of the most incredible experiences of my life. The natural beauty and diversity of the reefs is one of the major factors that keeps me coming back to the islands. In addition to aesthetic beauty, the coral reefs bring in millions of dollars in revenue to the Hawaii economy. “In Hawaii, gross revenue from just a single, half-square-mile coral reef reserve was estimated at more than $8.6 million a year” (Reef-saving effort focuses on Hawaii: http://starbulletin.com/2000/03/02/news/story8.html). Based on Table 1 (in the coastal developer section), it is clear that the percentage of coral cover has remained essentially the same over the two-year period from 1998 to 2000. Therefore snorkeling and scuba diving should not be curtailed in Kailua Bay because they have shown no adverse effects on the coral reef ecosystem. Placing restrictions on recreational aquatic activities around the Kailua Bay coral reefs would only serve to hurt the already ailing Hawaii tourist industry.

Alternative Perspective: If we look at classification images and corresponding pie charts, it is clear that the Kailua Bay coral reef has declined over the two-year period from January 1998 to February 2000. Just looking qualitatively at the classification images shows an increase in the amount of sand and fossil reef, which translates into a decrease in coral cover. It is clear that tourism has played a big role in damaging the coral reef ecosystem, especially when divers and snorkelors step on and kill the coral reefs. I propose that we limit the number of tourists that can snorkel or dive in Kailua Bay to insure the long-term health of the coral reefs. While this may hurt the tourist industry in the short-term, it will insure that both the health of the reefs and tourism in Hawaii will continue to flourish for many years to come.

3. Coral reef ecologist:


Coral reefs are one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. They serve a multitude of roles from protecting our coastal development from large waves, sustaining our fishing industry, helping our tourist industry, and even providing extracts for pharmaceutical drugs to help find cures to diseases. Although the overall coral cover has remained virtually unchanged over the two year period from 1998 to 2000, this period is not long enough to make any definitive statements about the health of the reefs. Longer-term studies in other regions of the world have shown that coastal development, overfishing, and over-commercialization (too many tourists) have led to the demise of the coral reef ecosystem. If current conditions continue, "an alarming 70 percent of the world's reefs may be gone by 2050," said D. James Baker, task force co-chair and head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Reef-saving effort focuses on Hawaii: http://starbulletin.com/2000/03/02/news/story8.html). With the onset of global warming, coral reefs will become more susceptible to bleaching events. This makes it imperative that we pass measures to protect the long-term health of the coral reef ecosystem.

 

4. Native Hawaiian representative

Coral reefs play an important role in the Hawaiian culture. According to Hawaiian mythology, the coral polyp was the first creature to emerge during the creation story. The scientific data suggest that the percentage of coral cover in Kailua Bay has not changed significantly from 1998 to 2000. Although the Western perspective may be to continue to exploit the coral reefs for their economic value, we Hawaiians feel that it is important to remember the religious value that corals have on our lives. Corals are sometimes even offered during religious ceremonies. The coral reefs are extremely valuable to the Hawaiians and we urge that the coral reef ecosystem be treated with respect. Only take what is needed, not desired. Sustainable management of the coral reefs is essential if we hope to preserve this asset for the future generations.http://www.higp.hawaii.edu/kaams/lpreef/problem/explore.html)


Possible Final Conclusion (C-2)

Write your final paper of one or two pages to be submitted to the Congress, analyzing the problem or situation, and making suggestions about the coral reef problems in Kailua Bay. Support your solutions or decisions with arguments and evidence based on the role you played, and evaluate your solutions or decisions. This time, be sure to write your own conclusion based on your view, rather than taking on the position based on your role.


In our initial mission request letter, we were asked to answer the question, “Which activities (if any) around the coral reefs of Kailua Bay should be restricted to insure their lasting protection?,” within the context of our role and the scientific data available. Given the many stakeholders involved, it was extremely difficult to come to any sort of overarching consensus. However, there are a number of recommendations that we can make in our final report which attempts to take all or most of the parties viewpoints into consideration. It was agreed that we must be able to walk the fine line between economic viability and environmental considerations.

Sustainable tourism (http://www.hawaiiecotourism.org/news.sb070301.step.htm) is something that both the local residents and tourists want to be a part of. That is, “to promote tourism policy in Hawaii which supports beneficial social, cultural and environmental relationships in the tourism development process and facilitates the use of sustainable practices within the existing tourism industry” (http://www.tim.hawaii.edu/step/step_about.htm). This starts with strong educational programs, very similar to the one established in Hanauma Bay (see http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/SEAGRANT/CRM/CEH2C.html) directed at the schools and the general public explaining the importance of the reefs in an economic, social, cultural (Native Hawaiian practices), and environmental sense. These programs would stress the relationships between these facets and would emphasize how we all have to do our part in protecting the reef as a community. We feel that all stores that rent and/or sell scuba or snorkeling gear must be required to educate their prospective buyers about the importance of protecting the reef. Coastal developers can continue to develop on the coast as long as they go through stringent environmental controls and assessments to make sure they do not cause any adverse effects to the coral reefs. Any violation will result in stiff penalties and a revoking of the building license. Commercial fisherman may continue their practices under the current regulations, but each will be required to get a permit and they must report the details of their catch to the proper authorities.
The two-year comparison between the Landsat and DMSV images are a good starting point for coral reef monitoring in Kailua Bay, but this should only be the beginning. Longer-term airborne, satellite, and ground truth monitoring of Kailua Bay is necessary to insure the long-lasting health of the coral reef ecosystem.

rev September 22, 2002