From Kara Osada-D’Avella of The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) and Tony Spitzack from Washington State University:

Just a heads up on a university research project you may see on dives:

Northern Sites are between Puako and Keawaiki
Southern Sites are between Old Kona Airport and the Energy Lab.

10-20 foot depth

Description: The exclusion cages (10″x10″x10″) have a 12 gage wire frame with vinyl coated chicken wire secured with zip ties. There will be contact information on the cages.

Please do not remove. These are NOT fish traps.

The exclusion cages are permitted by the Division of Aquatic Resources and Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands.

I am a graduate student with Washington State University and will be looking at how fish communities can affect ecosystem resilience. Specifically, I want to see if an area with lower fish diversity has less resilience (to changes in the coral/algae community) than areas with higher fish diversity.

If you have any questions at all, would like more details on the project or would like to volunteer to help, feel free to contact me at t_spitzack@hotmail.com.