From June 30 to July 3, 2003, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Coral Reef Project conducted an experiment to investigate one possible cause of large variations in the amount of new reef production in adjacent areas around West Maui, Hawaii. The goal was to determine whether the areas of poor growth were simply not getting enough new coral larvae recruits because of local coastal-circulation characteristics. The experiment studied the larvae dispersion by the reef-building coral Montipora capitata, locally known as "rice coral," which simultaneously release bundles of eggs and sperm into the water column each summer shortly after the new moon during spring tides. The bundles rise to the surface, break apart, and then rely on chance encounters with the eggs and sperm from other bundles for fertilization. Once fertilized, most of the eggs settle to the bottom, generally within 2 to 4 days, and attach to hard substrate to begin the creation of a new coral colony.

The project objectives are to track the water containing the Montipora capitata sperm and eggs bundles as it moved during several days from its origin above a healthy reef, a system of current drifters with an integrated real-time tracking system was developed by the USGS