For a time it appeared that the story had a happy ending. As the once beautifulreefs smothered, scientists and the generalpublic began to cry out. It took a while,but in 1978 public pressure finally man-aged to greatly reduce the discharge of sewage into the bay, and the sewage wasdiverted offshore. The result was dramatic.Bubble algae died back in much of the bay,and the bay’s corals began to recover muchfaster than anyone had expected. By theearly 1980s, bubble algae were fairly scarceand corals had started to grow again. Thereefs were not what they once were, butthey seemed to be on track to recover. Then the ghost of pollution pastreared its ugly head. In November 1982,Hurricane Iwa struck Kane‘ohe Bay. Dur-ing the years of pollution a layer of thecoral skeleton had weakened, becomingfragile and crumbly. When the hurricanehit, this weak layer collapsed and many reefs were severely damaged. Fortunately,the corals were already beginning to re-cover, and the broken pieces were able togrow back. If the hurricane had hit duringthe years of pollution, the reefs of Kane‘oheBay—and the benefits of fishing, tourism,and recreation—might havedisappearedforever.