Waikiki sand replenishing will affect box jellyfish

When the next box jellyfish influx arrives in about a week, there could be some changes to the usual locations the jellies frequent. 

The reason?  A three-month project to widen a portion of Waikiki Beach.

Heavy equipment is put into place in preparation for the arrival of 24-hundred cubic yards of sand that will be pumped onto Waikiki Beach. 

The Diamond Head basin of Kuhio Beach, referred to as two Delta by city lifeguards, will serve as a detention area for the sand drawn from offshore. 

It is the same area where box jellyfish spawn every month. 

"For the next three months if this area is filled with sand then clearly the animals won't be able to accumulate inside two-delta and they will be more disperse out in the reef," said University of Hawaii researcher Angel Yanagihara.

For the past 14 years she and her assistants have collected the jellies that come ashore at night, 7-to-10 days after a full moon. 

She says the $2.5 million sand replenishing project will likely disrupt the oldest continuous data set in the world on a jellyfish species.

"We actually collect every single animal and take them out from the water so they don't go back out with the next high tide," she said.  "We presumed then that the animals won't get trapped in this sea walled area and they'll probably be more out in the reef."

Which means for those who are used to seeing lower numbers after dawn.

"That may not be the case for the next three months because the animals will probably be still more dispersed out in the near reef where surfers come, so early morning surfers may notice more jellies out there," said Yanagihara.

The three-month disruption in Waikiki will allow Yanagihara and her crew to visit other islands that are reporting jellies as well.

"The Big Island, Molokai and Kauai so we have contact on those islands and we are probably planning to do field trips and go offshore some of the other islands and collect animals there."