Excerpt from
Anchialine Ponds
Anchialine Pond Shrimps
Hawaii's Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy
THREATS:
Habitat destruction has reduced available habitat for anchialine pond shrimps. On the island of Hawaii much development has occurred in the major area for anchialine pools between Kawaihae and Kailua-Kona leading to the filling in of many pools. A monitoring system was set up at Waikaloa to assess the impacts of development there;
Hawaii's Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy 8/18/2005
A number of introduced species may compete with them for food or prey on them. Introduced fishes (Tilapia, koi, mosquitofish and guppies) and Tahitian prawns are a major predatory threat and alter the habitat use of remaining shrimp. Over 90 percent of the anchialine ponds in the Kona coast of Hawaii are contaminated with non-native species. The presence of introduced fishes leads the shrimps to retreat into crevices in the substrate. As a result the ponds become overgrown with algae, leading to greatly accelerated debris accumulation and decay of the ponds, suggesting Opae Ula is a keystone species;
Pollution of pools by refuse and human use of the water;
Anchialine pools themselves may thus serve as conduits for pollutants and predatory
impacts to the underground areas that may be the primary habitat of these species;
Collectors taking Opae Ula to sell for aquarium use or fish feed threaten some ponds.
CONSERVATION ACTIONS:
The goals of conservation actions are to not only protect current populations, but to also establish further populations to reduce the risk of extinction. In addition to common state-wide and island conservation actions, specific actions include: Fencing the pools in 'Ahihi Kina'u NAR NAR, and possibly elsewhere; Educating people to the value of, threats to and conservation actions to protect the ponds; Restoration of habitat by removal of introduced species; Creation of man-made pools should be explored; Maintain healthy populations with appropriate fishing regulations and education; Closure and rerouting of a portion of the road adjacent to 49 pools in Manuka NAR has been proposed.