Ship Grounding | Kalaeloa Harbor, Hawaii | February 2010

What Happened?

On February 5, 2010, the cargo vessel M/V Vogetrader ran aground outside the entrance channel to Barbers Point Harbor, O‘ahu. The ship grounding and associated response activities caused substantial injuries to coral reef habitat, harming more than 100,000 coral colonies.

What Were the Impacts?

The trustees estimated that the injuries to coral habitat and resources occurred across 3,478 square meters. Injuries included broken, sheared, and overturned corals. Additionally, the ship hull gouged a large portion of the actual reef framework.

What’s Happening Now?

In 2014 a settlement was reached requiring those responsible for the grounding—Denak Ship Management and Vogetrader Shipping Inc.—to pay $700,000 for restoration. In addition to these restoration funds, the responsible parties implemented emergency restoration in 2013, reattaching 643 coral colonies of various species and sizes, and removing close to 700 tons of rubble.

NOAA released a Final Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan (PDF, 53 pages) in December 2017, proposing projects intended to compensate the public for injuries to coral resources. Implementation began in early 2018, including the construction of a coral nursery off Airport Reef Runway which was used until 2022. Until then, NOAA used coral nurseries for recovery and regrowth in Florida and the Caribbean, where coral grows relatively quickly. In Hawaiʻi, coral does not grow as fast and a new type of nursery was developed, protecting entire coral colonies in a stable environment before they were outplanted.

The restoration plan also prioritized long-term monitoring to assess how the grounding site was recovering. In 2022, monitoring results indicated that the site did not naturally recover as projected. Beginning in fall 2024, new restoration techniques will be implemented at the site to stabilize the broken coral and rubble to promote survival of new corals. NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, State of Hawai‘i Division of Aquatic Resources, and Kuleana Coral Restoration are carrying out experimental, small-scale methods for stabilizing the fields of dead and broken coral include installing mesh and cementing large pieces of broken reef framework together into raised areas.