The hatchery has been a great success in the past few years, overcoming one of the greatest obstacles in aquaculture: finding out how to feed juvenile fish. Currently, the institute boasts several pens that hold stock adults, juveniles and, yes, robust, hatchery-raised adolescent 'opakapaka.

By investigating the feasibility of hatchery-raised 'opakapaka, the institute has undertaken a project that will have two very positive results. The first is fishery replenishment. While 'opakapaka is in high demand, yet increasingly rare in the main Hawaiian Islands, hatchery-raised fish could be used to replenish natural stocks in the wild. Second, as 'opakapaka are at the top end of the market in price per pound, healthy fish raised in hatcheries could provide another boost to our already burgeoning aquaculture industry.

Unfortunately, the infrastructure at Coconut Island is not as exceptional as the research done there, or its surrounding environment. With the exception of the new Pauley-Pagen Marine Laboratory, many of the facilities at the institute are in sore need of renovation or replacement.

Even more alarming, however, is the weatherworn and outdated laboratory that houses distinguished institute staff, including director Jo-Ann Leong and noted shark researcher Dr. Kim Holland. This building serves as a reminder that while Moku O Lo'e may endure, resisting the buffets of wind, rain and sea, our manmade structures have a finite lifespan. Indeed, this building seems to have exceeded its lifespan long ago, as it is marked by decay, rust and peeling paint.

In short, it does not look anything like a world-class lab at a first-rate facility, and is instead more reminiscent of a public high school science building in the darkest years of our state's sad educational history.

It seems that Moku O Lo'e has been left behind, despite the increasingly important role that marine biology and research continue to play in both state and global environmental management strategies and, of course, economics. This is not to say that the institute has allowed this to happen; rather, it has been working diligently to secure money for the planning and design of a new world-class laboratory that would do justice to the unique environment in which it would be placed.

To put it simply, the state of Hawai'i is in a position to invest a relatively small amount of money in the institute, which would catapult an excellent and well-respected institution into the 21st century, and remolding it into a paradigm for research, low environmental impact and high level of sustainability.

The institute is held back from becoming one of the premier academic players in the world of marine biology only by its dilapidated facilities. Let's help it attain its goals while enriching Hawai'i environmentally, economically and academically.