Keeper of the Bay: Protecting Kahaluʻu

Cynthia "Cindi" Punihaole hails from the Kona coast of Hawaiʻi Island, where her ʻohana has served as Hawaiian practitioners, teachers, and stewards since the mid-1800s. Growing up in the 1950s, she remembers flourishing coral reef at Kahaluʻu-a rich landscape that sustained families for generations. Tragically, increasing development and tourism have threatened the Bay's ecological health and native species. As Director of the Kahaluʻu Bay Education Center (KBEC), Cindi is doing her part to create a new legacy of keepers that will care for the land and sea as she and her kūpuna have for centuries. In our virtual talk-story with Aunty Cindi, she shares the history of Kahaluʻu Bay, her advocacy work to save its coral reef, and current trends and policy affecting our coasts.