Anchialine pools are unique coastal habitat features that are benefiting from restoration efforts supported by the Hawaii Fish Habitat Partnership. Anchialine (pronounced "AN-key-AH-leen") pools are brackish waterbodies that are fed by subsurface groundwater (freshwater) and seawater, but have no surface connection to the ocean. They are physically connected to the coastal marine environment via porous subsurface bedrock, and their water surfaces rise and fall with the tides.

 Anchialine pools provide important habitat for rare invertebrate species, including native shrimp, snails, and damselflies. A number of these species are endemic to the Hawaiian Islands and exhibit unusual adaptations that allow them to live in waters that undergo extreme variation in salinity, water temperature and exposure to sunlight. Six of the shrimp species found in Hawaiian anchialine pools are candidates for listing as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Because of the habitat value of the remaining anchialine pools that support at-risk species, they are considered a priority habitat type for protection and restoration efforts in the Hawaii Fish Habitat Partnership Strategic Plan.

Halocaridina rubra.

The shoreline area in the vicinity of Alula Bay on the Kona coast of the Big Island is home to over 20 anchialine pools and an extensive archaeological complex, but both the aquatic habitat features and the ancient Hawaiian structures had been severely degraded by invasion of non-native red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) and pickleweed (Batis maritima).

 This project removed the invasive non-native vegetation and replaced it with appropriate native vegetation to restore the anchialine pool ecosystem; to remove sources of pollution for anchialine pool and adjacent reef ecosystems; and to preserve the numerous cultural features including a heiau, or ancient Hawaiian temple structure.

Project implementation was led by the environmental non-profit Malama o Puna, who coordinated a number of agency and NGO partners including the Big Island Invasive Species Committee (BIISC); Pacific Coast Joint Venture (PCJV); Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park (K-HNHP); representatives from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In addition, Malama o Puna communicated project benefits to the local community and native Hawaiian groups and enlisted support from the Kona Hawaiian Civic Club; Na Wai Iwi Ola, a hula school that uses the area; and Hale o Papa, a native group consisting of lineal descendants of the area and local families that consider the heiau (temple) at Alula Bay an important religious feature.

Between November of 2013 and March 2014 volunteers and participating agency staff cut and removed the entire 0.7 acre stand of dense mangrove and pickleweed. Community volunteers contributed over 900 service hours to the project. Approximately twelve anchialine pools of various sizes were "daylighted" by this effort and represent a significant area of newly available habitat for recolonization by anchialine pool dependent shrimp such as `opae ula (Halocaridina rubra) and Metabetaeus lohena. Follow-up revegetation work by Malama o Puna and BIISC staff have re-established a variety of native plant species at the site including 'akulikuli (Sesuvium portulacastrum), naupaka (Scaevola sericea), kou (Cordia subcordata), hala (Pandanus tectorius), alahe'e (Canthium odoratum), loulu (Pritchardia affinis), pohuehue (Ipomoea pes-caprae), 'ohai (Sesbania tomentosa), pohinahina (Vitex rotundifolia), Hibiscus furcellatus, nanea (Vigna marina), milo (Thespesia populnea) and maiapilo (Capparis sandwichiana).