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		The Nature Conservancy in Hawaii Home Places We Protect Forested Watersheds Invasive Species Marine Conservation Climate Change Hikes Get Involved News Room Ways of Giving Contact Us

Save Hawaii's Reefs Please join us in fighting alien species. Your support can make all the difference in restoring Hawaii's ocean for the generations to come. Super Sucker News Read the National Geographic online article and Science Magazine story  (8/10/07) about the Super Suckers at work. Go Deeper Learn more about the Conservancy's Hawai'i marine conservation program, and our ongoing invasive species removal efforts. Invasives: A Global Threat Learn about the Conservancy's Invasive Species Initiative, and strategies we use to address the threat of invasive species in the U.S. and around the world.

 

Marine researchers in Hawai'i have a new weapon in the battle against alien algae: an underwater vacuum cleaner that sucks invasive algae right off the reef. Initial tests show that this new invention, aptly dubbed "Super Sucker," can remove up to 800 pounds in a single hour. 

“The Super Sucker is potentially the difference between watching our reefs slowly succumb to alien algae and returning them to healthy productive ecosystems,” said Celia Smith, a professor and seaweed specialist in the University of Hawaii's Botany Department. “We’ve field tested this device and worked out the kinks, and I think we've established it’s a viable tool that can help us get a handle on the alien algae problem."

 

In 2006, the barge-mounted underwater mechanical device was fabricated and piloted in O'ahu's Kāne'ohe Bay, where the invasive seaweed was burgeoning out of control. The Super Sucker continues to be operated by a small group of trained crewmembers from various partner agencies. The University of Hawai'i (UH), The Nature Conservancy, and the State Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) are leading the effort.

Super Sucker to the Rescue

The idea for the Super Sucker came out of planning meetings with DLNR, botany and biology researchers, and was taken from concept to machine by The Nature Conservancy. Eric Co, the Conservancy’s O'ahu marine coordinator, researched and developed the device, which is essentially a modified gold dredger that has been outfitted with a 40-horsepower diesel engine and runs on bio-diesel fuel.

 

The proven effectiveness of the original device has spawned a smaller, more versatile unit, which was unveiled earlier this year. "Super Sucker, Jr." can operate in shallower waters and be easily transported between islands. The more portable Junior is being successfully utilized in Kāne'ohe Bay and a number of community cleanup efforts, including at Maunalua Bay and Waikīkī.

Kāne'ohe reefs choked by the invasive algae, Eucheuma.

Alien algae are a serious threat to Hawaii’s coral reefs. They already dominate large regions of Kāne'ohe Bay and Oahu’s south shore, and are also abundant on the south shores of Maui and Moloka'i.

 

In Kāne'ohe Bay, where the Super Sucker was developed and tested, it is helping to fight fast-growing invasive algae, including two particularly virulent species:  Gracilaria salicornia, also known as gorilla ogo, and the gristly yellow-green Eucheuma denticulatum. Both species grow into thick, tangled mats that destroy natural habitat by smothering coral and native algal communities.

 Removing invasive algae from coral reefs is key to the long-term survival of Hawaii’s reefs and the abundance of life that thrives there. According to Cynthia Hunter, an assistant professor in the UH Mānoa Biology Program, both algae fill in the reef and take away habitat for fish. “They take a very complex habitat with nooks and crevices and flatten it,” she said. “The coral can only recover if you get the alien algae off of it.”

 

 

Invention Aids Community Efforts

The Super Sucker project is one component of a larger strategy that includes community-based volunteer clean ups, the use of algae-eating native sea urchins, and the out planting of native algae to repopulate the reef. Local farmers are also involved, recycling the alien algae for use as an organic fertilizer to grow taro.  

 

Super Sucker, Sr. is deployed from a barge that was specifically designed for the project.

Community-based volunteer efforts to remove Gracilaria began in earnest four years ago in Waikīkī and have since spread to other parts of O'ahu. In total, more than 20 events involving 2,000 volunteers have removed more than 100 tons of the invasive seaweed.

 

“The volunteer clean ups have been a tremendous success in educating the public and will continue to be an important educational compliment to the Super Sucker,” said Tony Montgomery, an aquatic biologist with the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources. “But the problem is so pervasive, and the urgency so great, that we need additional tools.”

  

The original Super Sucker, Sr. is deployed from a 13 x 25-foot covered barge and was specifically designed for the project. "The vaccum itself is a Venturi system," explained Co. "That means there are no fans or blades that the collected algae pass through. This is important for two reasons: One, any marine life that is inadvertently collected can be returned. Two, alien algae can reproduce by fragmentation, so the fewer fragments we are generating during the process, the better."  

 

Alien algae and sea water are deposited onto a porous table, to sort out by-catch.

The entire operation is accomplished with a five-person crew. Two divers, equipped with a four-inch round, 100-foot hose, descend below the surface, where they stuff the alien algae into the suction hose. Aboard the barge, algae and seawater are deposited onto a large porous table, where sorters separate the by-catch and pack the algae in burlap sacks. The sacks are then delivered to local taro farmers, who have found the algae to be a superior fertilizer.

 According to Brian Parscal, the UH operations supervisor for the project, the 800 pounds of alien algae the Super Sucker removes in an hour is equivalent to the effort generated by 150 volunteers and 10 divers. “The other great advantage of the Super Suckers, especially the new, smaller version, is that it's portable,” he said. “It can be deployed in critical areas that are more remote, where manual removal efforts would be impractical or impossible.”    

 

Keeping Coral Reefs Clean

 

But cleaning the reef of alien algae is only half the battle. Gracilaria and Eucheuma can quickly return and spread at a rate of greater than 300 meters a year. To prevent any new growth, researchers plan to release native sea urchins that feed on the alien algae, and out plant native algae in the cleaned areas.

The alien algae is packed into sacks and delivered to taro farmers for use as fertilizer.

“In small-scale experiments, the urchins have flat out stopped the alien algae from growing back,” said Eric Conklin, the Conservancy's marine science advisor. “What we don’t know yet is how successful the urchins will be at the scale of cleaning entire reefs. And to some extent, how effective the program will be long term may depend on that. Can you clean an area with the Super Sucker and walk away, or do you need to keep coming back to keep up with the problem?” 

 

Researchers said if the program can be shown to work over large areas, it could pave the way for funding to build additional super suckers. “At that point, we would be in a position to attack the problem at the scale that’s really needed,” Conklin said.

 

Initial funding to develop the original Super Sucker was provided by: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Hawai'i Community Foundation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Hawai'i Invasive Species Council, and the National Sea Grant Program through the support of Hawaii Senator Daniel K. Inouye.  

 

Check out other Conservation Spotlights stories >>

With your help, we can conserve important ocean habitats throughout Hawai'i.

Picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): © TNC (Eric Co and Eric Conklin aboard Super Sucker-fitted barge, Kāne'ohe Bay); © Eric Co/TNC (diver vacuuming reefs clean of alien algae); © Phil Spalding III (bags of ogo removed from coral reefs); © Jennifer Smith (Kane'ohe reefs smothered by Eucheuma ).