Hilo center dedicated to northwestern reefs
By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — A $1.3 million museum dedicated to the reef ecosystems of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands opened in downtown Hilo yesterday with the hope that the program will encourage younger generations to reverse the damage done to Hawai'i's marine environment.
Mokupapapa photo
Nainoa Thompson, a leader in the Hawaiian cultural revival and the first Hawaiian-trained traditional navigator in modern times, said he feels "quiet rage" at the way reefs and other ocean resources have been stripped in Hawai'i.
At the grand opening of the Mokupapapa discovery center in downtown Hilo, fourth-graders from Kamehameha Schools' campus at Kea'au learn about navigating the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
"I know, we know, we're going the wrong way," Thompson told the audience at the opening of Mokupapapa: Discovery Center for Hawai'i's Remote Coral Reefs. "When we look at the importance of education, we need places like this.
"It gives me — a simple, humble citizen — a real sense of hope."
The 4,000-square-foot center at 308 Kamehameha Ave. is operated by the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Its location in downtown Hilo likely will make it a regular stop for schoolchildren as well as tourists from the cruise ships that visit the Big Island.
The center is dedicated to the mostly uninhabited chain of small islands, atolls and reefs that begin northwest of Kaua'i. That chain makes up about two-thirds of the Hawaiian archipelago, which is the world's longest string of islands.
The exhibits include life-sized models of predators such as ulua (giant trevally) and sharks hanging from the ceiling; murals and arrays of maps and pictures of the reefs; and an animated display of the cycle of creation and submergence of the Hawaiian Islands.
The center also has a 2,500-gallon Coral Reef Aquarium display and a mock-up of the cockpit of the Pisces V research submersible with robot arms that visitors can manipulate.
"The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands represent over two-thirds of Hawai'i and contain one of the healthiest marine environments in the world, yet few people know they exist," said Robert P. Smith, the reserve's coordinator.
He said the hope is that the Discovery Center will educate visitors and residents on "the wonders of the ocean that we are all responsible to protect."
Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.
