WASHINGTON — Three Hawai'i groups will get a total of $218,500 in grants to protect the state's coral reefs, two federal programs announced Wednesday.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Coral Reef Conservation Program in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded the $750,000 in grants to help stop damage to coral reefs in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

"Healthy coral reefs provide the United States and thousands of communities around the world with food, jobs, shoreline protection, recreation and income," said NOAA acting administrator William Brennan.

The largest Hawai'i grant, $87,500, will go to the University of Hawai'i-Manoa to help pinpoint pollution sources in Maunalua Bay on O'ahu's southeast coast. The bay, which has a variety of corals, has become polluted because of poor land-use and flood-control practices.

A $69,010 grant will go to the Moloka'i invasive species control committee to help remove invasive algae from around the island and educate the community on how to prevent its spread.

Non-native species of algae were imported to the state three decades ago to stimulate the aquaculture industry but have spread out of control, smothering the reefs. The project will include community cleanup events, workshops and outreach.

The Community Conservation Network of Kaua'i, O'ahu and the Big Island will receive a $62,000 grant to work with the Hawai'i Division of Aquatic Resources and coastal communities to develop public-private partnerships to conserve the state's coral reefs.

The federal grant money is being matched by $1.45 million in other funding, including money from the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation in Hawai'i, for a total of $2.2 million in spending on reef conservation.

Other grants went to programs in American Samoa, Micronesia, St. Lucia, Belize, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Netherlands Antilles.