Ocean Blog

The Hawaiian monk seal pup Pualani, who was born in mid-April on Kaimana Beach in Waikīkī, will be relocated after she is weaned from her mama Kaʻiwi.

University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa researchers published their discovery in Science that scalloped hammerhead sharks hold their breath for warmth while diving deep to hunt for prey.

The University of Hawai‘i Sea Grant College Program and its partners have been awarded over $5 million to tackle the issue of marine debris, particularly derelict fishing gear that is abandoned, lost or discarded in the ocean.

U.S. Coast Guard crews are searching a location about 500-miles south of Kailua-Kona on the Big Island for a cruise ship passenger from Australia who on Tuesday night went overboard in waters about 500 miles south of the Big Island in Hawaiʻi.

Hawaiian monk seal RK96, also known as Kaiwi, gave birth on April 14 to her fifth pup at Kaimana Beach in Waikīkī, Oʻahu. 

Three endangered Hawaiian monk seals have a second chance at life in the ocean after being rehabilitated at Kona’s marine hospital, Ke Kai Ola.

Emergency medical services was called just before 7 a.m. and treated a man bit by an 8-foot tiger shark in Kewalo Basin in Honolulu on Easter Sunday.

During a routine patrol in the South Kona District, the officers took photographs and drone video showing the large group of swimmers appearing to be aggressively pursuing, corralling and harassing the pod in Hōnaunau Bay on Hawaiʻi Island.

The potential new National Marine Sanctuary identified in the Presidential Memorandum would conserve 777,000 square miles, including the existing Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.

The separate State of Hawaiʻi projects address temporary, short-term fixes and permanent, long-term solutions for water problems at popular Hāpuna Beach State Recreation Area.

The forecast is for dangerously large breaking waves of 10 to 15 feet in Kona and Kohala.

The public is advised to stay out of flood waters and storm water runoff in Hilo Bay due to possible overflowing cesspools, sewers, manholes, pesticides, animal fecal matter, dead animals, pathogens, chemicals and associated flood debris.

David Jiménez, who calls himself “Dolphin Dave,” was cited for two violations after the state Department of Land and Natural Resources received numerous calls reporting alleged wildlife harassment.

Maui volunteers spotted the most humpback whales on Feb. 25 with 596, followed by O’ahu with 232, the Big Island with 105 and 64 for Kaua’i.

A 120-ton, 94-foot luxury yacht that grounded in a Maui bay now is defueled. Next is a $460,000 plus salvage operation.

The Hawaiʻi State Department of Land and Natural Resources said it has hired Visionary Marine of Honolulu to do the salvage operations of the luxury yacht that grounded in Honolua Bay.

The owners of a grounded 94-foot yacht have hired a private contractor to salvage the vessel, according to the Hawaiʻi State Department of Land and Natural Resources.

“Based on recordings of whale song, our research reveals that nearly the entire Hawaiian archipelago is visited by humpback whales during the winter and early spring months,” says the paper’s lead author Marc Lammers, research ecologist with the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. “We documented an abundance of koholā in Papahānaumokuākea.”

“While some agencies saw this kanaloa as a ‘specimen,’ we understand that this kanaloa is our ancestor and as such, requires us to engage in a specific manner.” — statement from Native Hawaiian group Kiaʻi Kanaloa regarding handling of dead whale that washed ashore on Kauaʻi.

While tako is a common name for the octopus in the Aloha State, it is of Japanese origin. The Hawaiian word for octopus is he’e.