The Orange Keyhole Sponge, Mycale armata Thiele, was unknown in Hawaii prior to 1996. First reported in Pearl Harbor, it now occurs in virtually every commercial harbor in the main Hawaiian islands, where it can be a major component of the fouling community on harbor piers and jetties. It has been reported from a few coral reef locations near harbors, but in Kaneohe Bay it has become a major component of the benthic biota in the south bay in the last 5-10 years. A study was conducted in 2004-2005 to determine Mycale armata's distribution, abundance throughout the bay, its growth rates on permanent quadrats, and whether mechanical removal would be an effective management technique for its control. Results from 190 manta board surveys on 28 reefs and paired 25 m belt transects using photo quadrats on 19 reefs indicated that the sponge had maximal coverage in the south-central part of the bay, in the vicinity of Coconut Island.

The Orange Keyhole Sponge, Mycale armata Thiele, was unknown in Hawaii prior to 1996. It was first reported in Pearl Harbor and has been reported in low abundance from a few coral reef locations near harbors, but in Kaneohe Bay it has become a major component of the benthic biota in the south bay in the last 5-10 years. An initial study was conducted in 2004-2005 to determine Mycale armatas distribution, abundance throughout the bay, its growth rates on marked permanent quadrats, and whether mechanical removal would be an effective management technique for its control (Coles and Bolick 2006). Findings in the first year from 190 manta board surveys and 19 quantitative photo-transects on 18 reefs throughout Kaneohe Bay indicated that the sponge had its greatest abundance in the south bay near the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) pier and Coconut Island. Despite the apparent visual dominance of this conspicuous sponge on many reefs, its maximum coverage measured on any transect in 2004-2005 was 9.2% of the bottom, with a mean of two transects at this site of 6.5%, and sponge was substantially less than coral coverage at all sites. However, measurement of changes in sponge area on ten permanent quadrats photographed quarterly throughout the year indicated a significant average increase in sponge of 13%. Attempts to mechanically remove sponge on ten other permanent quadrats was very time-consuming, requiring up to an equivalent of 22 hr m-2 for removal, and sponge regrew an significant average of 10% during the year following removal. The study was continued for a second year to determine whether changes in sponge coverage and distribution in the bay could be detected, whether the first year's rates of increase in sponge cover on permanent quadrats would continue, and whether a more effective method of sponge control could be devised. Photo-transects repeated at 11 of the 19 sites from Year 1 indicated increased sponge cover at all sites with significant increases at 7 of the 11 sites, and highest sponge coverage still occurring in the vicinity of Coconut Island. The permanent control photo-quadrats remaining from the first year were re-photographed quarterly and showed a further non-significant increase of 1.7% during Year 2. Re-growth of sponge on the remaining removal quadrats averaged a non-significant increase of 6.3%. Four more photoquadrats were deployed in March 2006 and sponge surfaces on two of these were mechanically removed, followed by injection of the sponge with air delivered by a 10 cm long bone necrosis needle. This treatment resulted in mean reduction from initial values of sponge cover of up to 73% a month later. Four more quadrats were deployed in May and these were treated by air injection alone, which showed little visible effect one month later. Sponge on these quadrats were re-injected with air, and one month later showed mean reductions in sponge of 57%. Some regrowth of sponge occurred on these removal quadrats, resulting in a net average reduction of 42% below pretreatment conditions for the five of the six quadrats that remained by the end of the study. Overall, the two-year study suggests that growth and spread of Mycale armata on Kaneohe Bay reefs and may now be slowly but steadily extending beyond its area of highest concentration in the south bay. The air injection method may provide a means for reducing the range expansion and impact of the sponge if substantial resources are directed toward controlling this highly invasive species. Before a large-scale control effort is considered, a pilot study of reducing the sponge by air injection should be conducted and results monitored to determine the effectiveness of this means of control in both the area of highest sponge abundance and at the boundary of present sponge occurrence.

The purpose of this study was to determine Mycale armata's distribution, abundance throughout the bay, its growth rates on permanent quadrats, and whether mechanical removal would be an effective management technique for its control. The study utilized both quadrat surveys and manta tow boards for data collection. Data files are in Excel, PDF, MS Word, and JPEG image formats.

Surveys for adult invertebrates that were part of the hull fouling communities were done to determine to what extent marine alien invasive species (AIS) are being transported in this fashion. The focus was to perform a qualitative analysis that created a species inventory. The organisms that generally foul vessel hulls are the typical species found in natural marine intertidal and subtidal fouling communities. These organisms are usually associated with one of the following groups: porifera (sponges), coelenterata (hydroids, corals and anemones), mollusca (mussels, clams, and sea slugs), annelida (marine worms), arthropoda (barnacles, amphipods, and crabs), bryozoa (moss animals), chordata (sea squirts and fish), as well as macroalgae (seaweed). Through collaboration with state and private industry representatives, arrivals notification for various vessel types was received. This arrivals information was used to schedule field survey activities throughout the study. Field work occurred in 2003 at harbors of southern and southwestern coasts of Oahu, Hawaii.

Baseline surveys were conducted at numerous sites around each island, including those identified as "hotspots" by the Department of Aquatic Resources, around the islands of Hawaii, Maui, Molokai, Oahu and Kauai. A total of 72 sites with 13 in Kaneohe Bay, Oahu alone. Alien and/or invasive algal abundance were ranked on a scale of 0 to 10 (0=0% cover, 10=100% cover) and includes habitat type (e.g., sand, lava bench, coral, rock, artificial substrate) and pertinent environmental correlates (e.g., depth, proximity to shore) at each site where invasive species are encountered. Sites where alien species presence have been documented in the past were resurveyed.

Two types of data sets generated by our project: species inventories and quantitative counts of key organisms. The species inventories are a compilation of data collected by Chela Zabin of the Department of Zoology of the University of Hawaii in 2001 and by Zabin with the assistance of Erin Baumgartner's 9th grade Marine Science class at the Education Laboratory School in 2003, 2004 and 2005, through a National Science Foundation Graduate Teaching Fellowship. Each site was visited only once each year: by 50 students in 2003 and by 25 students in 2004 and 2005.

Twelve quadrats were sampled along 2 consecutively-placed, 25m transect lines as part of Rapid Ecological Assessments conducted at 10 sites at Oahu in the Main Hawaiian Islands in July 2005 from the NOAA vessel Hi'ialakai (HI05-05). Raw survey data included genus presence and relative abundance, and voucher specimens. Detailed taxonomic analyses of voucher specimens are presented.

Data in this set come from two studies: "Ability of protected reefs to resist alien algae" and "How many fish does it take to keep the alien algae out?" Both are authored by Ms. Danielle Jayewardene and Dr. Charles Birkeland of University of Hawaii Manoa, in 2005 and 2006, respectively. For the former, the goal was to objectively and quantitatively assess the ability of marine protected areas (MPAs), to maintain ecosystem health, and to thereby resist invasion of alien algae. For the latter, specific objectives involved a) determining whether there are differences in cropping ability by larger herbivorous fishes compared to smaller herbivorous fishes, and b) whether there is a threshold level of algal biomass above which even an increased number of herbivorous fishes simply cannot crop down. The field work took place at eight coral reef sites located on the island of Oahu and the island of Hawaii.