'A'ali'i is a reporter with KITV. He was born and raised on the island of Maui and graduated from the University of Southern California with a bachelor's degree in Journalism.
Part of the project involves looking for offshore spots from which to extract sand and pump it onto the beach.
MAALAEA, Maui (KITV4) -- As erosion eats away at a Maui shoreline, county officials, community members, and researchers have been mulling over how to best protect it.
Earlier this month, the Ma'alaea Village Association held a public meeting to discuss ideas on how to shore up the crumbling coastline from Ma'alaea Harbor to Haycraft Park.
Dubbed the Ma'alaea Village Coastal Resilience and Erosion Management Plan, researchers explained the approach involves looking for offshore spots from which to extract sand and pump it onto the beach. Wesley Criley of the University of Hawai'i Sea Grant Program, which is offering technical assistance, said the move would buy about 10 years to allow for further planning.
"Beach restoration, sometimes called beach nourishment, where you could build a beach in front of Ma'alaea, requires a good source of quality sand," Criley added.
So far, researchers with the sea grant program took sand samples from two offshore spots near Ma'alaea, but the results were inconclusive.
Criley pointed out the sand supplements should ideally be near the targeted coast because using a hydraulic dredge to pump it all can get costly. Additionally, the sand must be free of any grains that may cloud the water.
"The other concern is, of course, reef health and coral reefs and different marine ecosystems out there that may be negatively impacted," Criley said.
Adding sand, according to Criley, would be the first phase of a long-term plan. The next step would be to install sand dunes, which would buy another 20 years or so. Then, before eventually shifting structures more inland, experts suggest retrofitting condos and other buildings.
"You could put a parking lot or a common area, swimming pool, or something like that on the bottom floor and you re-design the building so that it can handle occasional flooding," Criley said.
Project leaders hope to have more definitive results from the sand study by the end of the month.
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'A'ali'i is a reporter with KITV. He was born and raised on the island of Maui and graduated from the University of Southern California with a bachelor's degree in Journalism.
