{"id":2709,"date":"2026-07-17T08:04:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T08:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2709"},"modified":"2026-07-17T08:04:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T08:04:48","slug":"scientists-say-north-shore-corals-are-now-dying-due-to-mud-from-the-kona-low-storms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2709","title":{"rendered":"Scientists say North Shore corals are now dying due to mud from the Kona low storms"},"content":{"rendered":"
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HALEIWA (HawaiiNewsNow) – The flooding from March\u2019s Kona low storms left a coat of mud on coral reefs around Oahu\u2019s North Shore. And a longtime local marine biologist says that coral is now dying because of it.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve never seen in the last 20 years this much mud, in the water, along the North Shore,\u201d said marine biologist, diver and Pupukea resident Terry Lilley.<\/p>\n

Lilley has been studying Hawaii\u2019s coral reefs for decades. He\u2019s now documenting the damage from Sunset Beach to Haleiwa following the devastating flooding.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday and today when I got done with diving, at 50 feet deep at Shark\u2019s Cove, there\u2019s still an inch of mud on the reef,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Lilley said he has taken hours of video and thousands of photos on his dives. Many of the photos show the bottom coated with brown muck suffocating the coral reef.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you suffocate the coral, it will kill the tissue that\u2019s on top of the skeleton, and so what is left behind is that coral skeleton, which is limestone. And that usually gets covered by algae pretty quickly,\u201d said Nyssa Silbiger, an associate professor in the Department of Oceanography at U.H. Manoa.<\/p>\n

Lilley said corals can survive for up to three months covered with mud. But large areas of coral are also bleaching \u2014 a sign that they are under stress.<\/p>\n

\u201cOut of those bleached corals \u2014 now, it\u2019s been, what, over three months since the Kona low \u2014 and about 95% of the bleached corals are either dead or starting to die,\u201d said Lilley.<\/p>\n

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This is happening as scientists monitor warming ocean waters that could further endanger the coral.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have one of the strongest El Ninos that\u2019s occurring right now, so we\u2019re expecting some pretty warm heat waves to be coming through for the next few months,\u201d said Silbiger.<\/p>\n

Wave action closer to the shoreline has cleaned off the mud in shallower areas, but the mud and debris will remain in deeper offshore waters until the winter surf swells roll in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to get any cleaning of that part of the reef until we get our big winter swells, coming up in October or November. So the mud just sits there,\u201d said Lilley.<\/p>\n

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Lilley has been sharing his findings with the state Division of Aquatic Resources. He still remains optimistic that the corals will eventually recover, once the mud is gone.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Silbiger said groups like Eyes of the Reef are also keeping close tabs on the health of the coral.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are researchers looking at coral cover, coral disease increases, there are researchers looking at the microbial composition of the water, there are researchers that are looking at e. coli,\u201d said Silbiger.<\/p>\n

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A local marine biologist is finding mud coating offshore coral reefs, months after the devasting floods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nScientists say North Shore corals are now dying due to mud from the Kona low storms - Hawaii Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2709\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scientists say North Shore corals are now dying due to mud from the Kona low storms - Hawaii Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A local marine biologist is finding mud coating offshore coral reefs, months after the devasting floods.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=2709\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hawaii Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-17T08:04:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=2709#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=2709\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\"},\"headline\":\"Scientists say North Shore corals are now dying due to mud from the Kona low storms\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-17T08:04:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=2709\"},\"wordCount\":503,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=2709#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/87e08c22ebcbc9b0bc6b887d12ac6a41.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=2709#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=2709\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=2709\",\"name\":\"Scientists say North Shore corals are now dying due to mud from the Kona low storms - 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