Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Hawaii
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

This project will provide crucial insight into the basic biology of a culturally important food fish in Hawai‘i, the paku‘iku‘i or Achilles tang (Acanthurus achilles), whose numbers have recently and mysteriously declined in west Hawai‘i Island. Project scientists will work directly with State resource managers to plan and implement monitoring of fish larvae, recruits, and juveniles, which are critical stages that may contribute to the decline and rebound of this fish’s population. The proposed work will thus inform the State’s adaptive management plan for this species in west Hawai‘i within the first two years of the fishery’s closure.