Started by fishermen and firefighters, Kuleana Coral Restoration prioritizes workforce development to aid coral reefs stressed by warming oceans, urban runoff and more. A community-driven effort to restore coral reefs is getting underway on Maui. It’s the brainchild of Alika Garcia, a firefighter and emergency medical technician with the Honolulu Fire Department, in partnership with Maui Nui Marine Resources Council and his own organization, Kuleana Coral Restoration.
“I’m not a scientist,” Garcia said. “I’m just a local boy.” But Garcia’s efforts are paying off.
With funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and others, the nonprofit he co-founded is training local workers to restore degraded coral reefs, enhance fish habitat and build coastal resilience. An avid, lifelong fisherman, Garcia started noticing a few years ago how native fish weren’t as abundant as when he was growing up. He and friend Kapono Kaluhiokalani, a fellow firefighter and fisherman, decided to do something about it.
They watched YouTube videos about how to start a nonprofit and put an ad on Craigslist that read: “Fisher Looking For Scientist.” What resulted was Kuleana Coral Restoration in 2019, a growing nonprofit based in West Oahu. Through the Craigslist ad, they met Daniel DeMartini, a marine biochemist who is now the organization’s science director.
Since its inception, Kuleana Coral has outplanted more than 2,500 coral fragments on Oahu. After settin.