Estuary Team
We’re at the Waimea River on the west side of Kauaʻi, with the Division of Aquatic Resources Estuary Team. Across Hawaiʻi, 14 estuaries, or muliwai, are being monitored 4 times a year. At each location, the team systematically throws net and collects environmental DNA – to identify fish species, life stage, and abundance. Water quality measures also help the team assess habitat health. We learn about the different types of estuary systems, how the team monitors estuaries, the importance of their findings for protecting critical fisheries habitat, and why Waimea is such a special place.
Watch the 30-second trailer for Season 12, Episode 5 on Vimeo or on YouTube, or on Vimeo with English Subtitles.
Full Episode
Curriculum Connections:
- Grade 5: Food Resources and Fisheries Science
- National Estuarine Research Reserve: Heʻeia Fishpond
- Grades 6-12: Density Effects
- Bishop Museum: Waipiʻo Valley Stream Restoration Study
- NOAA: National Estuarine Research Reserves
Additional Resources:
- Hawaiʻi Division of Aquatic Resources (Homepage)
- Estuary Team: How is stream ecology connected to coastal fishing?
- Environmental-DNA: A New Tool to Measure Biodiversity in Estuaries
- Introduced: Invasive Mullet May Outpace Native ‘ama ’amaVideo: Estuary Team Mullet Research
- What is an estuary?
- Hawaiian Streams: Mauka to Makai
- Fishes of Hawaiʻi
- Aquatic Invasive Species in Hawaiʻi
- Marine, Freshwater, and Brackish
- Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources: Tools of the Trade: Water Quality Sondes
- Waimea River and Estuary
- Kaua’i Nui Kuapapa: Waimea ahupua‘a, Kona district
- Hawaiʻi Watershed Atlas: Waimea River, Kauaʻi
- Hawaiʻi DLNR: Waimea River Flow Standards & Monitoring
- Video: Waimea Water Settlement
- USGS: real-time river water height gage for Waimea River
- Pacific Drought Knowledge Exchange: Kauaʻi Freshwater Fact Sheet
- Kaua’i Nui Kuapapa: Waimea ahupua‘a, Kona district
- Estuaries in the News
- Images of Old Hawaiʻi: Hawaiian Traditions, Muliwai
- Big Island Now: Introduced Invasive Mullet May Outpace ‘Ama‘ama
- Bishop Museum: Nonindigenous Freshwater and Estuarine Species Introductions and Their Potential to Affect Sportfishing in The Lower Stream and Estuarine Regions of The South and West Shores of Oʻahu,Hawaiʻi
- Civil Beat: The Shift to a Green Energy Future is Renewing Plantation-Era Water Wars on Kauaʻi
- Images of Old Hawaiʻi: Hawaiian Traditions, Muliwai
Select a season of Voice of the Sea
Contact information:
Kanesa Seraphin, Ph.D.
kanesa@hawaii.edu
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