Hundreds of coral colonies in Kaneohe Bay are dead or dying from a bacterial disease called Montipora white syndrome.
University of Hawaii researcher Greta Aeby said the disease has been observed attacking rice corals in the bay since 2004, but said latest outbreak is "major."
Aeby, who works at the University of Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, said after being killed by the disease, the coral breaks down to rubble.
"This is bad, as all the little shrimp, crabs, fish that used to take cover in those corals now no longer have any shelter, so it affects the entire coral reef ecosystem," she said.
Aeby, whose team is monitoring the outbreak, said scientists are researching ways to control the disease, including smothering the lesions with marine epoxy and surgically removing diseased sections of coral.
"We are currently working to develop methods of disease treatment," she said. "The more we know what is causing these diseases, how they are transmitted and the environmental conditions that may be causing the outbreaks to occur, the more we can offer solutions."
Aeby said the disease is attacking rice corals, the second most common coral in Hawaii.
Montipora white syndrome has been found on reefs on Maui and Kauai, though not to the extent as in Kaneohe Bay.
Aeby said about 100 coral colonies died in the southern area of the bay in 2010. The current outbreak has resulted in 198 dead and dying colonies around Coconut Island and on fringing reefs, and affected hundreds of other colonies in the bay’s southern zones, she said.
Aeby said the outbreak is giving slow-growing rice corals little time to recover.
"This disease is wiping out corals in a couple of weeks that are up to 20 years old," she said.
Montipora white syndrome has occurred elsewhere, including Australia, but never documented on the scale that is occurring in Kaneohe Bay, she said.
Aeby is asking oceangoers to help document the disease by joining the Eyes of the Reef Reporting Network by emailing contact@reefcheckhawaii.org or calling 953-4044.
