The project, supervised by sanctuary program assistant Alastair Hebard, focuses on two alien species, Hypnea musciformis, a brown branching seaweed, and Ulva, a thin green weed commonly called sea lettuce. Both are nuisances that regularly wash up on the beach at Waipuilani, turning into a smelly accumulation that Maui County contracts to clear from the shoreline.

"We want to find out what we can do about why we are having the overgrowth of limu at Waipuilani," volunteer Gloria Snyder told The Maui News.

She's participating in the project to grow the two types of alien weed in mesh bags suspended in about 5 feet of water in the Ko'ie'ie Fishpond next to the sanctuary offices. The experimental seaweeds will be weighed regularly to determine how fast they are growing.

The sanctuary will share its data with University of Hawaii scientists and other researchers studying the causes of algae blooms along the coastline in Kihei and off Ukumehame as part of an effort to find ways to control the alien species.

"It's a good way to get the community involved in real-time coastal conservation issues," Hebard said.

He said the project may be expanded to establish baseline data on growth rates in various areas of the ocean.

Snyder said she and husband, Skip, spend a lot of time at the tide pools at Waipuilani as sanctuary volunteer instructors teaching children about tide pools.

As a resident of the area, she knows there has been an ongoing problem with seaweed accumulating on the beaches, where the county contractors are using heavy equipment five days a week to haul it away.

For beachgoers, the algae piles are a nuisance, but marine biologists say overgrowth of algae on the coral reefs have killed coral and destroyed the ecosystems for reef fish.

The sanctuary seaweed growing project officially began Sunday as volunteers placed a cinder block and PVC pipe device into Ko'ie'ie Fishpond to hold 20 mesh net bags, each containing a gram of limu, 4 to 5 inches under the surface of the water.

Over the next year, the volunteers will periodically recover the bags, weigh the seaweed and return the seaweed into the water.

As volunteers were preparing the hypnea and ulva for the experiment Sunday, Congresswoman Mazie Hirono stopped by to learn about programs and walk through the yet-to-be-opened sanctuary Learning Center constructed next to the sanctuary offices.

Hirono said Thursday she was "very impressed" by the volunteers at the sanctuary, including those working on the algae project and those involved with the fishpond restoration.

She had first visited the sanctuary 10 years ago as lieutenant governor and recalled the facilities then consisted of the one wooden building, an old beach house converted into an office facility.

"It's already a tremendous learning experience," Hirono said. "Once they have the center up, it's going to expand the learning opportunities for visitors as well as especially students."

During the visit, Snyder noted, Hirono asked what eats the invasive limu. Turtles eat limu, Snyder said, but if there are more turtles in the area, they also could attract sharks that feed on turtles.

A trained naturalist, Snyder said she enjoys learning about the ocean and believes gathering data about limu is important.

"It's the base of everything. This is the base of our ecosystem," she said.