Divers have up righted 180 corals toppled by Navy aircraft in Kāne’ohe Bay

State and federal dive teams completed field assessments in Kāne’ohe Bay this week, to delineate the scope of impacts to corals damaged when a US Navy P8A Poseidan twin-engine jet aircraft overshot the runway at Marine Corps Base Hawai‘i. Last month’s accident ended with the nearly 70-ton aircraft on top of the bay’s reef. 

Divers from the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources, and federal natural resource agencies will be conducting further data analysis in the coming weeks to delineate the main impact footprint from the geo-referenced data they’ve gathered.  

Emergency restoration efforts were enacted last week by the DAR and Navy divers,  along with other divers from federal agency partners. 

Kim Fuller, the aquatic biologist leading survey and restoration dives from DAR said, “Divers have up righted 180 coral colonies and documented the size and species of each of them. The Navy divers were key in up righting the heavy, larger colonies. If the colonies had remained overturned, they likely would have died. This collaborative, emergency work gives them a chance to survive.”