ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS

Honolulu Advertiser
January 7, 2008

Hawai‘i nature reserve predators targeted
by Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser North Shore Writer

State and federal wildlife officials want to erect a predator-proof fence through one of the most unspoiled spots on O‘ahu to create a haven for endangered and protected seabirds and plants.

Ka‘ena Point Natural Area Reserve has seen dramatic recovery since becoming a protected area 24 years ago, and today the remote area is home to one of the largest seabird colonies in the Hawaiian Islands.

Among the 13 species of seabirds commonly seen there are the wedge-tailed shearwater and Laysan albatross, both of which are under protected status.

But as much as 15 percent of the shearwater chick population was killed in 2006 by dogs, cats or mongooses because the seabirds nest on the ground, making them easy prey. Last year 13 percent of the albatross chicks were destroyed, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

To help protect the birds, the Wildlife Society Hawai‘i Chapter, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the DLNR propose to build a 500-yard predator-proof fence that would stretch across the peninsula along the base of the Wai‘anae Range to the high-tide line at either end.

In all, some 59 acres would be protected.

The fence would have several entry points and would not impede hikers, bicyclists or fishermen, officials said. A double-door system would allow them to pass through while making sure predators don‘t get in.

The protected status of the area has allowed the bird population to grow, but further measures are needed to ensure the birds‘ survival well into the future, said Lindsay Young, project coordinator.

In as little as an afternoon, "it would take (just) one dog ... to eliminate them," Young said. "That‘s part of the reason we hope the fence will be approved because it provides that insurance policy to protect that colony of birds."

The DLNR‘s Division of Forestry and Wildlife has prepared a draft environmental assessment for the estimated $200,000 project, which is funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through the Wildlife Society.

The assessment was submitted to the Office of Environmental Control and released to the public in its Dec. 23 bulletin. People will have until Jan. 22 to comment. The assessment is also posted on the DLNR Web page www.dofaw.net.

As part of the assessment process, personnel have been presenting the project to community groups on the North Shore and in Wai‘anae to obtain feedback. And residents are encouraged to contact the state for information and to voice concerns.

DLNR officials said the response has been generally positive, with concerns raised regarding the fence style, access to the area and impact on cultural sites.

Cynthia Rezentes, vice chairwoman of the Wai‘anae Coast Neighborhood Board, deplored the idea of placing a fence in the area and blamed irresponsible people for taking dogs there and dumping cats.

But she said it is a worthwhile proposal, especially at this time of year when the wildlife gathered there is like no other place on O‘ahu.

"This is a little bit of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands for people who will never get there," Rezentes said. "This time of the year, you can see all the ground-nesting birds, maybe whales, dolphins, monk seals and turtles all at once."

A SPECIAL PLACE

Young, who has studied the area for five years and is a doctoral student at the University of Hawai‘i, said Ka‘ena was chosen because of the bird population, the site‘s isolation and the native plants found there.

"We got the plants, the animals, and the ecosystem is protected," she said. "We got the best of both worlds."

Young said although the project seems costly, it will save money in the long run because the predator protection program now operating will be reduced.

The system now includes trapping cats and mongooses, and setting bait stations for rats, all of which are of limited effectiveness, said Christen Mitchell, a planner with the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife. When dogs are reported, a person is sent to try to resolve the problem.

Gege Kawelo, president of the Wai‘anae Hawaiian Civic Club, said she was briefed on the fence project and her sense was the state was looking for people to help monitor the area after the fence is installed.

"We‘re for preserving these indigenous birds, and that‘s a good thing. However, the monitoring and the clubs helping ... we need more information," she said.

Mitchell said she doesn‘t know of any group that has "adopted" the area, but it would be helpful in protecting it.

"The hope is to cultivate more volunteers and to have something organized, because it is unique," Mitchell said.

FENCE PROVED EFFECTIVE

The predator-proof fence has been widely used in New Zealand and tested on a small project on the Big Island with great success, she said.

Its use at Ka‘ena Point would be the first such permanent project of this scale in Hawai‘i.

The fine mesh will stop something as small as a 2-day-old mouse from entering along with cats, dogs and mongooses, Mitchell said. A roof over the top of the 6 1/2-foot-tall fence will prevent animals from climbing it.

The fence will also protect ‘ohai, an endangered plant that lives only at Ka‘ena and whose seeds are eaten by mice and rats, she said. Other native plants including ‘akoko, naio, ‘ilima and naupaka also are expected to thrive behind the fence.

An added benefit is also expected for the monk seal, Mitchell said.

"Many of the diseases they are susceptible to are carried by the predators this fence will exclude," she said.

TRADITION HEEDED

A concern of some residents is the "soul‘s leap" or leina a ka ‘uhane, a cultural site where, according to Hawaiian culture, departing souls pass into the spirit realm, Mitchell said.

Some residents believed that the original alignment of the fence would block access to that site, so a second alignment has been proposed, she said.

Now that the draft environmental assessment has been completed, project organizers must apply for several permits, including a special management area permit that is subject to City Council approval. If all goes smoothly, the project would begin construction when the birds are not nesting, in either July/August or October/November.

The earliest it could be completed is October 2008, Mitchell said.

Jeff Alameida, who grew up in Mokule‘ia and is a member of the North Shore Neighborhood Board, said placing the fence at Ka‘ena would benefit the entire island.

"It‘s a gorgeous part of the island," Alameida said. "It can serve as an opportunity to find ways to reduce predators on the island or around the state."

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com
View Article

Honolulu Advertiser
September 17, 2007

Captive-raised rare native birds released on Big Island
Associated Press

KAILUA, Hawai‘i — High in a Big Island forested oasis surrounded by lava, scientists have made their first releases of endangered Hawai‘i creepers.

Four of the birds raised under a San Diego Zoo conservation program were placed Friday into Kipuka 21, a fenced island of vegetation along Saddle Road, which cuts between the peaks of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. The first two creepers were taken to the area two days earlier.

During the week‘s "soft release," the creepers were placed in a aviary high on a scaffold in Kipuka 21. Provided with water and food, the creepers will get a chance to become familiar with their surroundings before they are set loose, said David Leonard, wildlife biologist with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Within three weeks, the Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program expects to release 11 ‘akepa, one of the smallest species of creeper.

The ‘akepa will be set free in family groups, including a youngster hatched this spring and believed to be the smallest bird ever hatched in captivity, weighing less than a gram, or 1/30 of an ounce.

"That little guy will go out with a pseudo-family group. After we finished rearing it, we fostered it into a family," said Alan Lieberman, the Zoological Society of San Diego‘s program manager for the Hawaii Endangered Bird Conservation Program.

Scientists hope the birds will stay in the area, bringing the total number of native bird species at Kipuka 21 to seven.

The newly released birds were raised at the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center.

The Hawai‘i creeper is olive-green with a white throat and a dark gray raccoonlike mask. An active rain forest bird, it feeds primarily on insects gleaned from branches and tree trunks, and also on nectar. The Hawai‘i creeper travels in family groups and sometimes flocks with other native birds.

The male ‘akepa is bright red-orange; the female has a greenish top and yellow belly. They gather in small flocks and nest in tree cavities. Their diet consists primarily of insects and spiders.

They use their odd-shaped bills to pry open ‘ohi‘a buds, small seed pods, and galls in search of food. They have been known to drink nectar from ‘ohi‘a and other flowers. Their "kee-wit" calls are quiet and their songs are a short, warbling trill.

The Hawai‘i creeper was listed as an endangered species in September 1975 under the Federal Endangered Species Act. The ‘akepa and Hawai‘i creepers are endangered because they exist only on the Big Island, in a narrow band of forest between 4,000 and 6,000 feet elevation.

Kipuka 21 is ideal for releasing such birds, and for bird watchers to catch a glimpse of them. Natural lava flows allow visitors to stand level with the forest canopy. The area has been the subject of focus by the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife, where volunteer-aided efforts have created trails and fenced out rooting feral pigs. Plans are also in the works to purge the area of invasive predators, such as feral cats and mongooses.
"The kipuka is a very special place where several species of rare Hawaiian forest birds can be seen regularly," said Scott Fretz, wildlife program manager for the Division of Forestry and Wildlife.

"It‘s right off Saddle Road, so it is very accessible," Fretz said. "We are in the process of developing a nature trail, overlook and parking area so that residents, visitors and schoolchildren can experience a unique Hawaiian rain forest and learn about Hawai‘i‘s wildlife and habitats. The site is not yet open to the public, but we expect it to be in a year or so."

Leonard, the wildlife biologist with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, said scientists hope the creeper and ‘akepa will stay in the area, allowing visitors to view the seven native species in their natural environment.

"That‘s really exciting," Leonard said. "This project has a lot of potential to make our jobs easier."

Biologists believe the birds were native to the area in the past, but they haven‘t been spotted there for several years. Invasive predators have taken a toll on the species, but scientists believe the birds will thrive in the protected area.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070917/NEWS11/709170329/1021/NEWS11

U.S. Geological Survey
Fact Sheet 2007-3047
Version 1.0

Hawaiian Duck’s Future Threatened by Feral Mallards
By Kimberly J. Uyehara, Andrew Engilis, Jr., and Michelle Reynolds 2007

The greatest threat to the future of the Koloa maoli as a unique species is cross-breeding with the introduced Mallard duck (A. platyrhynchos). This photograph shows feral Mallards, including “barnyard ducks,” at Wailoa River State Park on Hawai‘i. (Photograph by K. Uyehara.)

Nearly 70 percent of Hawai‘i’s native bird species are found nowhere else on Earth, and many of these species are declining or in danger of extinction. Although the Hawaiian Islands were once home to a remarkable diversity of waterfowl, only three species remain—the Hawaiian Goose (Nēnē), Laysan Duck, and Hawaiian Duck (Koloa maoli)—all Federally endangered. The Koloa maoli is the only Hawaiian bird threatened by “genetic extinction” from hybridization with an invasive species—feral Mallard ducks. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) biologists in Hawai‘i are working to find the causes of bird endangerment and ways to prevent extinction of the Koloa maoli and other threatened birds.

For the complete four-page report, go to:
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2007/3047/fs2007-3047.pdf

This report is also available in print from:

USGS Information Services, Box 25286,
Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225
telephone: 888-ASK-USGS;
e-mail:infoservices@usgs.gov

The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, June 8, 2007
By Jan TenBruggencate

Seal‘s death leads to citation

An adult female monk seal, left, lay for hours next to a dead adult male seal that had drowned after being entangled in a gill net on May 27. ADVERTISER LIBRARY PHOTO | May 29, 2007

CONTACT INFORMATION DLNR hot line for natural resource violations: 643-3567. NOAA Fisheries hot line for marine-related violations or seal entanglements: (888) 256-9840. Hawai‘i natural resource information: www.hawaii.gov/dlnr/Welcome.html

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources has cited a man who allegedly set the gill net that trapped and drowned an adult male Hawaiian monk seal at Makua Beach May 27.
John P. Kahalekii, 52, of Wai‘anae, was cited for deploying a net that was longer than the state‘s 125-foot maximum length, for failing to register the net with the state and for failing to visually inspect the net as required by law.
The DLNR, in a news release, said Kahalekii was identified to officers at the beach on the day of the seal‘s death. State and federal charges are also possible.

The possible maximum penalty for the DLNR citations is a fine up to $5,000 and 30 days in jail, plus a $10,000 fine for the killing an animal of an endangered species, the DLNR said.
Kahalekii is cooperating with the investigation, the DLNR said. The investigation into the seal‘s death was conducted initially by the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement, with help later from the NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement.

In new information released yesterday, the department said a state conservation enforcement agent on a routine patrol visited Makua Beach about 4 p.m. May 27, and was told by a beachgoer that a seal was caught in a net off the beach, and that a second seal in the area might also be entangled.
The officer, who was not named, swam roughly 100 feet from shore and found one seal in about 20 feet of water. Its head was down and the animal was tightly wrapped in netting. The officer cut it free and hauled it onto the beach with the help of two bystanders.

A necropsy later determined that the animal probably had drowned, the DLNR said.
The conservation officer‘s action may have saved two other seals that were near the net that day, said interim land department chairman Allan Smith.

Beachgoers that day said a second seal, a female, came up on the beach once the dead animal had been hauled ashore. The female seal appeared to be trying to guard the dead seal. Two seals believed to be the female and the dead seal had been photographed nuzzling a few days earlier on nearby beaches.
A third seal was spotted swimming near the shore while the dead male and the female were on Makua Beach May 27.
"We commend and thank the witnesses who were on scene, for their prompt action and assistance. ... I would also like to commend our Conservation and Resources Enforcement officer who tried to save the seal," Smith said in a news release. "We are saddened by the tragic death of this rare endangered Hawaiian monk seal."

Another monk seal drowned in a gill net off Makai Pier at Makapu‘u Oct. 16, but the May 27 case was the first since the state enacted strict new lay gill net regulations, which limit where and when they can be used, how long nets can be and which require all nets be registered with the state and tagged with identifying markers.
"Continued violations of this type can put the state in a difficult position in terms of compliance with the Endangered Species Act, and it would be very unfortunate if the actions of a few individuals were to compromise the future use of nets by fishers statewide," said Dan Polhemus, administrator of the state Division of Aquatic Resources.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070608/NEWS14/706080369/1001/NEWS

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
June 8, 2007
News Release

LANA‘I WATERSHED PROTECTION BENEFITS
DISCOVERED POPULATION OF HAWAIIAN PETRELS

HONOLULU -- Wildlife biologists from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, University of Hawai‘i and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, working in collaboration with Castle and Cooke, have reported the discovery of a large population of endangered Hawaiian Petrel, or ‘ua‘u in the remote mountains of Lana‘i.

The birds have been found to be nesting in the upper watershed areas of Lana‘i where Castle and Cooke has been implementing a watershed protection program.

The discovery of the population was made last year and DLNR has deployed a team of biologists to the island to learn more about the birds and their conservation needs.

“Castle and Cooke’s work to protect the watershed is a great benefit not just for the water resources it provides to the community but clearly for Hawaiian wildlife as well,” said Allan Smith, DLNR interim chairperson. “We’re pleased to partner with Castle and Cooke and are working with them to develop new phases of the work that will protect larger areas of the watershed.”

“We appreciate this collaboration between Castle and Cooke, and DLNR, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and University of Hawai‘i, that is allowing biologists to conduct surveys across the watershed to determine the extent of the birds’ breeding colony,” said Smith. “They have also begun to control introduced predators that could kill the young nestlings in their burrows before they are able to fly,” he said.

“The Lana‘i Hale watershed had not been surveyed for petrels since the 1980’s so we didn’t know what to expect,” Scott Fretz, DLNR wildlife program manager, said. “We assumed there would be few, if any, birds remaining on Lana‘i, but once we started the surveys we immediately realized that we had found something special.”

“We don’t yet know the total number of birds on Lana‘i but there appear to be hundreds, if not more, which would make this one of the biggest populations known in the state,” Fretz said. “This discovery indicates that the population there has grown significantly in the last 20 years.”

‘Ua‘u spend most of their lives at sea, returning to land only part of the year to breed and fledge their young. Even then, the birds only return to the upland nesting areas after dark and in the morning they fly to sea to feed before dawn. They are an elusive species to study and biologists employ special methods such as thermal imagers, night vision technology, and marine radar to gather the information needed to develop conservation programs to protect the birds.

‘Ua‘u were once common throughout the Hawaiian Islands but were decimated by the introduction of predators such as cats, rats, and barn owls, and loss of native habitats that the birds depend on for nesting.

The petrels were common on Lana‘i in historical times but had all but disappeared by the 1980’s because of habitat destruction and predators.

Castle and Cooke is planning additional work that will protect larger areas of the watershed and assist efforts to protect ‘ua‘u and other wildlife.

The Honolulu Advertiser
April 16, 2007
By Jan TenBruggencate

Hawaii’s Environment
Protecting resources in Palau

For Hōkūle‘a crew member and The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i staffer Eric Co, there was a very satisfying balance between the gift the voyaging canoe brought to Palau, and what Palau gave the Hawaiian members of the canoe crew.

"We‘re helping reinvigorate traditional navigation in Palau, and they‘re helping us with conservation," said Co, who crewed on the canoe roundtrip from Yap to Palau.
The island nation has an active conservation program that sets aside marine areas as reserves with the specific goal of improving fishing success immediately, and protecting the resource for the future. Hawai‘i folks were impressed by Palau‘s ethic of marine conservation, and that it seems to be driven by the communities, rather than by the national government.

"It doesn‘t work from the top down," said filmmaker and veteran Hōkūle‘a sailor Na‘alehu Anthony. The villages have pushed for their own marine reserves and fishing restrictions, and it seems to work, he said.
"Now everybody is screaming for conservation, because it means they get more fish. That‘s been their experience," Anthony said.

Palau folks took the canoe voyagers on tours of the famed Rock Islands and discussed their fishery management techniques.
"The people are seeing the resources coming back. They see it working," said Nature Conservancy official Pauline Sato, who also sailed there on the canoe. She said Palau communities recognize the need to protect their fishery resources for future generations, and they have used both cultural knowledge and modern marine science to develop the most effective management techniques.

"They have no problem finding balance between traditional knowledge and science. It is the village chiefs who seek out the scientists," Co said. Palau president Tommy Esang Remengesau Jr. sailed the Yap-to-Palau leg, and Sato said the other crew members were impressed by his understanding of and commitment to conservation.

"To have the president of a country say the things we want to hear was so impressive," Sato said. "I had a glimpse of what they‘re doing here, conservation-wise. We have some of this in Hawai‘i but nowhere near the extent to which they have executed it here."

One key to Palau‘s success is the communities that live around the marine ecosystems are demanding the protection of those areas and supporting active monitoring of the progress. "They know they have a treasured resource," Sato said.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Apr/16/ln/FP704160343.html

Star Bulletin
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Opinion Editorial

Don’t get snagged by smelly fishing bill
THE ISSUE
Legislation that would have checked the state‘s authority to manage ocean resources has been amended.

AN ill-conceived bill that would have effectively blocked a state agency from carrying out its responsibility to protect Hawaii‘s ocean resources has been heavily amended, but the possibility that its original provisions will be restored remain as long as the measure is alive.

As it now stands, the bill‘s small benefits are outweighed by the encumbrances it places on the ability of the Department of Land and Natural Resources to manage fish populations and other marine life. Lawmakers would do better to reject the legislation completely.

The chief aim of the earlier bill was to require the department to present data virtually impossible to obtain before it could restrict fishing or set regulations for taking marine life from Hawaii waters. Framed thinly as a way to promote traditional Hawaiian practices, the measure was really a ploy to stymie the agency‘s ability to control overfishing.

Though the measure called for "science based" management, the outrageous data requirements would have forced the department to track individual species throughout their ranges -- which in some cases could include the entire northern Pacific Ocean and beyond -- assess their numbers and submit proof that overfishing was the cause of species decline outside of other environmental factors such as pollution or other ocean conditions.
Moreover, before regulations could be imposed, they would have to be approved by a task force, whose membership would heavily tilt toward commercial fishing interests, setting aside the current rule-making process open to the wider public.

In its current version, the bill would allow community groups to participate in fishery management and give them state funds to help monitor habitats. While community involvement could be beneficial, funds would better be used to increase the department‘s staff.

Legislators should be commended for gutting the original measure, which would have gutted the state‘s authority for ocean conservation.

http://starbulletin.com/2007/03/25/editorial/editorial02.html

Honolulu Advertiser
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Gill net fishers get new rules
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer

The state has enacted a new set of lay gill net regulations that ban such fishing in some areas and severely restrict it everywhere else.

"It‘s basically an outright ban. You can‘t really use this gear under these rules. The gear is not effective in daylight, and with the short lengths of net, you‘re not going to catch very much," said recreational gill net fisherman Scott Moncrief of Kailua.

State officials said scientific studies of net impacts on local fish, along with the support of a large portion of the fishing community, led to aggressive regulations, which were developed by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and have been signed by Gov. Linda Lingle.

They are now in effect, and establish total gill net bans on Maui and in three regions of O‘ahu, and set strict limits on their use in other areas. The rules require all nets to carry identification tags, ban setting at night, and require nets never be left unattended for more than half an hour.

The image of green sea turtles drowned in unattended or abandoned gill nets helped galvanize public opposition to the fishing technique.

"Fishing is part of our island lifestyle and depends on maintaining a healthy ocean. Lay gill nets threaten our way of life because they take too many fish from the sea at once, regardless of size or season, and can drown protected species such as Hawaiian monk seals and sea turtles," said Kim Hum, director of the marine program at The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i, in a statement.

The state‘s path to regulation has been nearly a decade long, starting with a statewide gill net task force formed in 1998, and statewide community meetings by both the land department and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The DLNR in a news release said that during the agency‘s nine public hearings on the rules, 86 percent of 1,239 oral and written testimonies favored the regulations.

"DLNR has taken these steps to protect Hawai‘i‘s nearshore marine resources by instituting requirements for more responsible and appropriate fishing practices," said land board director Peter Young. "We approach marine resource protection from a wide variety of perspectives, but without a change in the management of near shore reef fisheries, there is no reason to expect the marine resource decline to stop. We will continue to fight to reduce sedimentation, invasive species and other impacts to near shore waters."

Moncrief argued that there are only a few commercial gill net fishing interests today, and that their impact on fisheries is comparatively small, but others disagree.

"Frankly, lay gill nets should have been banned 20 years ago. I‘ve fished in Hawai‘i for more than 40 years and I‘ve seen with my own eyes how the resources have diminished. We don‘t have the right to deplete these resources. It‘s really our responsibility to preserve them for the future generations," said Douglas "McD" Philpotts, a fisherman and woodworker, in a news release issued by the pro-regulation group Fair Catch Hawai‘i.
If anything, the regulations do not go far enough, said John Randall, senior fish scientist at Bishop Museum.
"This is a landmark decision for Hawai‘i‘s nearshore resources. Our reef fish populations are in serious decline, and it‘s time for us to stop fishing in indiscriminate, wasteful ways. Restrictions on lay gill nets are long overdue, and I would support us going further to a complete statewide ban," Randall said.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Mar/08/ln/FP703080362.html

Star Bulletin
November 21, 2006
Editorial

New rules help ensure that we will have fish in the future
THE ISSUE
A state board has approved restrictions on lay gillnet fishing.

RESTRICTIONS on a fishing method that indiscriminately kills marine life will help to protect Hawaii‘s ocean ecosystem at a time when research and studies show that curbs are increasingly crucial to healthy fish stock and coral reefs.

The state Board of Land and Natural Resources‘ approval of the lay gillnet limitations should be followed quickly by authorization from the attorney general and Gov. Linda Lingle.

In addition, the administration and lawmakers should draw up proposals for the legislative session next year to fund more conservation officers so that the new regulations can be properly enforced. Without enforcement, the restrictions will be meaningless.

The rules ban lay gillnets from waters around Maui and off Windward and East Oahu areas, adding to existing no-fish zones off West Hawaii. In areas the nets can be used, the rules set a four-hour maximum time limit and require nets be checked every 30 minutes to avoid snagging unwanted or protected marine life. Lay gillnets of requisite sizes also must have owner identification tags to aid in enforcement. Nets left untended can be confiscated.

The regulations became necessary after the introduction of cheaply manufactured monofilament lay gillnets that spurred a destructive force not seen when nets made by hand were valued possessions. Irresponsible fishers stretched their nets over wide areas and left them for long periods of time. The nets trapped everything that swam into them, killing desirable and unwanted sea life indiscriminately. Moreover, the nets often were abandoned, damaging coral reefs and entangling endangered species like the young monk seal found dead off Waimanalo last month, wrapped in a gillnet.

The restrictions were supported by a majority of residents, fishers and Hawaiians, according to an independent poll conducted during the summer. More and more, people are recognizing that the species the ocean holds are finite and need protection. California will institute next year the first of a chain of refuges along its coastlines, banning fishing in 200 square miles from Half Moon Bay to Santa Barbara.

Some in the commercial and recreational fishing industries aren‘t pleased, and some Hawaiian groups have objected to limits, saying they take food off the tables of subsistence fishers. However, the rules don‘t bar them from fishing responsibly; in fact, those who fish for food should welcome practices that are more likely to ensure that they will have fish to catch in the years to come.

The restrictions are the culmination of months of public hearings and years of debate and study. They respect a traditional method of fishing in Hawaii while safeguarding the marine environment.

http://starbulletin.com/2006/11/21/editorial/editorial01.html

Star Bulletin
November 18, 2006

Panel lays down gillnet regulations
DLNR will curtail "curtains of death," as critics call them
By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com

Lay gillnet fishing will be prohibited around Maui and portions of Oahu‘s coast, a state board decided yesterday.

Where permitted, the nets cannot be used at night or left in place longer than four hours, and they must be checked every 30 minutes for air-breathing animals such as sea turtles and Hawaiian monk seals, according to new Board of Land and Natural Resources rules approved yesterday.

Gillnets also must not be longer than 125 feet and must have owner identification tags and buoys to help conservation enforcement officers catch offenders. The rules take effect after final review by the attorney general‘s and governor‘s offices.

Department of Land and Natural Resources Director Peter Young hailed the rules as properly curbing what "can be a wasteful fishing technique if not used responsibly."

"It‘s about time," said Louie "The Fish" Denolfo, a fisher and snorkeler from Maui who says he is depressed by the lack of fish in Hawaii nearshore waters.

But Tony Costa, a spokesman for the group Hawaii Nearshore Fishermen, said the regulations are akin to "closing the freeway to deal with some speeders."

And Toni Lee, president of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, said the decision will "make criminals of" Hawaiian fishers who use the technique to feed their families.

The fishing method involves nets that are suspended in the water like a curtain, with floats on the top and weights on the bottom. Fish that swim into the nets are caught by the gills and cannot get back out.

Detractors of the method have referred to it as "a curtain of death" and have pointed to the recent tangling death of an endangered Hawaiian monk seal pup in a gillnet off Waimanalo as a demonstration of the nickname.

The Land Board‘s move yesterday was hailed by a number of conservation groups that have been pushing for greater restrictions on the nets, including KAHEA (the Hawaiian Environmental Alliance), the Hawaii Audubon Society and the Nature Conservancy.

Sam Gon III, a Land Board member who works for the Nature Conservancy, recused himself from voting on the rules. Remaining members of the board voted unanimously to approve new lay gillnet guidelines.

After more than three hours of testimony yesterday, the Land Board also approved sending out additional changes to the gillnet rules for public hearings. Those include:

» Allowing the island of Molokai to have larger nets and longer set times, in keeping with its current self-governing practices.

» Having the new rules "sunset," or end, in five years, unless continued or modified by the board.

» Allowing use of gillnets halfway across stream mouths.

"No matter what the outcome of the meeting today, I was committed to continuing to talk with fishers, the Hawaiian community and others" about further adjustments to the rules, the DLNR‘s Young said.

http://starbulletin.com/2006/11/18/news/story09.html

Honolulu Advertiser
October 18, 2006

Seal found tangled and dead in gill net
By Tara Godvin
Associated Press

Wildlife officials have found a 5-month-old Hawaiian monk seal pup tangled and dead in a gill net near Waimanalo.

The news came as rare twin Hawaiian monk seal pups rescued on Midway Atoll five months ago flew home on board a Coast Guard plane after recovering on O‘ahu.

Each birth among the endangered Hawaiian monk seals is seen as critical for their continued existence. And new pups are closely monitored by volunteers and wildlife officials.

Numbering just about 1,200, the seals continue to struggle for survival despite efforts to protect their main habitat in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

The dead female pup had been born on O‘ahu‘s North Shore and was relocated to Rabbit Island, where there is a resident population of the seals, said Deborah Ward, spokeswoman for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

The animal was found Monday in 12 feet of water after officials responded to a call from a diver, she said.
The department is seeking any information from the public on the possible owner of the net.

Proposed restrictions on gill net fishing — including bans in the nearshore waters off Maui, the west side of the Big Island and parts of O‘ahu — are being reviewed by the department before receiving final approval from Gov. Linda Lingle.

Some conservationists called yesterday for the state to expedite the approval process.

"The unfortunate death of this young pup demonstrates how indiscriminate gill net fishing can be," Kim Hum, director of the marine program at The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, a partner in the Fair Catch campaign, said in a statement. "We urge the state to move swiftly to restrict the use of lay gill nets and to consider a statewide ban."

The twin seals taken to Midway had weighed just 65 pounds and 79 pounds when they arrived at the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center at Kewalo Basin. They grew to 113 pounds and 131 pounds but are still about 40 pounds below normal weight and will continue to be fed at their new home.

Their 30-by-80-foot shoreline pen at Midway will be partly on the beach and partly in the water.
When the twins are released into the wild, researchers will place tracking devices on them to monitor their location and diving behavior to see if they are feeding well.

Star Bulletin
October 18, 2006

Monk seal Penelope drowns in gillnet
By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com

A Hawaiian monk seal that was born earlier this year at Turtle Bay on Oahu was found drowned in a gillnet Monday.

Conservation enforcement officers for the Department of Land and Natural Resources were called to a location near Rabbit Island, the islet east of Makapuu Point, said DLNR Director Peter Young.

"To say it is a disappointment is an extreme understatement," Young said. "This is why we want to further manage lay gillnets, because of the indiscriminate killing -- not only of fish, but endangered species like the monk seal."

The seal was positively identified as the same animal that was born in early June on the North Shore, Young said. The animal was nicknamed Penelope by volunteers who had assisted with keeping curious onlookers away from it while it was nursing from its mother, he said.

Wildlife officials relocated the seal to Rabbit Island after it weaned, in an attempt to help it find a more secluded area, Young said.

The seal‘s body was reported at 11 a.m. Monday near the Makai Research Pier at the Oceanic Institute, Young said.

It had been the first Hawaiian monk seal born on Oahu in eight years.

State and federal wildlife authorities will investigate the death, Young said.

DLNR Press Release

DLNR Launches New 24-Hour Enforcement Call System

The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) has established a new statewide enforcement telephone number and launched a new 24-hour enforcement call system that will allow the public to report violations of state natural and cultural resources laws.

This live answering system will help improve the receiving, reviewing and referring of enforcement calls.
“We appreciate the hundreds of residents who take the time to report potential violations or illegal activity on state lands or in our oceans,” said Peter Young, DLNR chairperson.

“This new statewide telephone number and the 24-hour enforcement call system will enhance our ability to continue to work with the public to protect our natural and cultural resources. This new system will allow DLNR to obtain more accurate and timely information that will help us identify where illegal activity may be taking place and where our limited enforcement resources could be better concentrated.”

Effective immediately, the DLNR enforcement phone number is 643-DLNR (643-3567). This is an easy-to-remember, single statewide toll-free number that can be called from regular phones, as well as cell phones.
In addition, DLNR initiated a 24-hour live answer enforcement calling system. During working hours, (Monday – Friday 7:45 am - 4:30 pm), calls to the enforcement number (643-DLNR) will ring at the respective district office for the County where the call is placed.

After hours, weekends and holidays, calls will be directed to a central O’ahu-based answering service.
Callers will be prompted to provide as much detailed information as possible to assist enforcement response.
In human emergency situations callers should always immediately call 911 to seek emergency assistance.
As part of the initial stage of this program, all calls received by the O’ahu-based answering service will be transmitted to the appropriate DLNR-Enforcement island office at the start of business the next day.

This new system will make DLNR-enforcement more accessible to receiving public reports of violations.
DLNR is also in the process of assessing the feasibility and cost of having enforcement officers on the job 24-hours a day on each island.

The Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) is responsible for enforcement activities of the DLNR. In 2006, the division consists of 100 regular conservation resource enforcement officers (CREO) and 20 volunteers.

The division, with full police powers, enforces all state laws and rules involving state lands, state parks, state small boat harbors and ramps, historical sites, forest reserves, aquatic life and wildlife areas, coastal zones, conservation districts, state shores, as well as county ordinances involving county parks. The division also enforces laws relating to firearms, ammunition and dangerous weapons.

DOCARE receives emergency calls from county police and fire departments, to assist in search and rescue operations and various other incidents.

Kaiser High Educator Receives Living Reef Award

Mālama Hawai‘i salutes Michelle Kapana-Baird, teacher at Kaiser High School on O’ahu, for her receipt of the Education award of Hawaii’s Living Reef Program. She received the award on September 20, 2006 in Honolulu, along with a $250 check. Michelle was nominated because of her work at Maunalua Bay with her students, focusing on studying and controlling the invasive alien algae problem. Michelle has been active with Mālama Maunalua, in which Mālama Hawai‘i is an integral member.

The goal of the Living Reef Awards Program is to honor groups and individuals that promote a healthy reef ecosystem and go above and beyond in their action to make a difference in preserving our reefs, appropriate to their resources and ability. The awards honored and recognize organizations, groups or individuals that do the most to preserve Hawaii’s reef ecosystem. This award program is coordinated by the Coral Reef Outreach Network (CRON). http://www.hawaiireef.org/

Read recent articles on the feral pig problem in Hawai‘i.

Part 1 http://starbulletin.com/2006/08/06/editorial/special.html
Part 2 http://starbulletin.com/2006/08/13/editorial/special.html

Posted on: Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Honolulu Advertiser

Group aims to protect fish stock

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer

A new Hawai‘i marine conservation initiative, Fair Catch, will operate under the slogan, "Take what you need, not what you can."

The collaboration of The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i, Malama Hawai‘i and the Washington, D.C.-based ocean conservation group SeaWeb is designed to support measures to restore the productivity of nearshore waters in the Islands and to encourage sustainable activities along the coastline.

Fair Catch is launching itself by leaping into the issue of lay net fishing around the main Hawaiian Islands. It has released an extensive poll of Hawai‘i residents that indicates overwhelming support for restrictions on fishing with these nets, with a significant majority favoring a total ban on the use of the nets.

The organization timed its formation to coincide with a series of statewide hearings by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources on proposed new regulations on the nets. The state‘s proposal would ban the nets in some parts of the Islands, and add new restrictions in others, including limiting the length of time nets can be in the water, how long they can remain unattended and how many nets can be used in a given area.

Fair Catch hired the research firm QMark to conduct a statewide poll on fishing issues. The telephone survey reached 1,022 Hawai‘i residents, and the firm calculated that the poll has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

The poll found that two-thirds of residents feel the condition of the ocean around Hawai‘i has gotten worse in recent years, and between eight and nine out of 10 believe pollution is responsible. Three-quarters believe fishing is also a threat, with more blaming commercial than recreational fishing.

Only about half said they are knowledgeable about lay nets, but once the nets were explained, roughly three-quarters said they support restrictions on net use. The lay nets commonly used in the Islands are found in stretches 125 feet long and 7 feet high, with a row of weights at the bottom and floats at the top.

Three-quarters of all residents said they support restrictions, and about two-thirds support an outright statewide ban on the nets.

Fair Catch also released a scientific report on nets that was produced by veteran fish and reef scientists John Randall, Charles Birkeland, Richard Pyle and Randall Kosaki, in which they support a total ban. Traditional Hawaiian gillnets were handmade, valuable, fragile and carefully used. But cheap modern monofilament gillnets have led to nets being left overnight, and being abandoned when they were too badly tangled in the reef, and taking large numbers of unintended catch like turtles, sharks and fish that aren‘t taken for eating, the authors said.

Recreational fisherman Bruce Blankenfeld of Niu Valley said strong restrictions are needed.

"I‘ve seen 10 nets linked for more than a thousand feet, draped like curtains inside the reef. That violates our values of taking only what you need and leaving some for tomorrow," he said. "We just may have to stop laying net for a while to give our fish a chance to recover."

Fair Catch will work for expanded scientific study off the nearshore biological resources, involving citizens in monitoring the coastlines and improved enforcement of fishery regulations, the organization said in a prepared statement.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Posted: June 15, 2006
Honolulu Star Bulletin

Bush to create huge isle monument

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands will immediately receive maximum protection

By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com

President Bush is expected to announce in Washington today that he wants to make the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a national monument.

In doing so, Bush would establish permanent protection for the 1,400-mile-long, 100-mile-wide section of the Hawaiian archipelago and coral reefs, a move that environmental groups, native Hawaiians and others have been seeking for years.

"Building on all the work that was done in the last five years under the marine sanctuary process, the president has decided to elevate the designation of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands area to national monument status," said a statement released yesterday by the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

"This means the area will get immediate protection rather than having to wait another year" for completion of the ongoing national marine sanctuary designation process, the release said.

A senior administration official said the president‘s decision will ensure maximum protection for the islands, including a phase-out over five years of all commercial fishing.

Disputes over whether to allow fishing in the proposed sanctuary had been a point of contention between conservationists and the Western Pacific Fisheries Management Council, a quasi-governmental advisory group that sets fishing policy for federal waters in Hawaii.

Establishing a national marine sanctuary requires consideration of commercial fishermen.

As recently as yesterday morning, officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration‘s National Marine Sanctuary Program were expecting Bush to announce that the waters around the Northwestern Hawaiian islands would become the 14th national marine sanctuary.

They were surprised to hear yesterday of Bush‘s plans to instead declare it a national monument, bypassing the remainder of the designation process, including the release of a draft environmental impact study and a round of public hearings.

Even government and environmental insiders who have been working on the proposed designation of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as a sanctuary said yesterday they were surprised at the president‘s change in tactics.

There was speculation that NOAA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service might share jurisdiction over such a national monument, but representatives of both agencies said they would not comment until after Bush‘s announcement today.

"What I‘m thinking is that the worst monument is better than the best sanctuary," said Cha Smith, executive director of the Kahea Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, a group that has promoted making the islands a "place of refuge."

The monument status prevents "extractive uses" -- such as fishing or mining -- and will afford more protection than a sanctuary, Smith said. However, she cautioned that her group will monitor management plans for the monument "to make sure that destructive practices are not allowed under the guise of ‘research‘ or ‘education.‘"
NOAA Administrator Conrad Lautenbacher called protecting the area "the single largest act of ocean conservation in history. It‘s a large milestone."

The state Sierra Club, Hawaii Fishing and Boating Association, Polynesian Voyaging Society and Hawaii Audubon Society all released expressions of support yesterday.

The isles and atolls are home to more than 7,000 marine species, one-quarter of which are found only in the Hawaiian archipelago. The area is key for the endangered Hawaiian monk seal and the threatened green sea turtle.

Gov. Linda Lingle signed new state rules in September that ban fishing and sharply limit public access to state waters of the Northwestern Islands, which are from any land to three miles at sea.

The high, rocky islands of Nihoa and Mokumanamana have great cultural importance to native Hawaiians.
The new monument will be given a native Hawaiian name, using suggestions from state residents, the administration official said.

NOAA will develop regulations for managing the monument. Last month, state and federal officials signed an agreement to manage the pristine islands jointly.

Administration officials say their intent is to preserve zoned access for native Hawaiian activities, educational and scientific expeditions. Recreational and tourist visits that are no more harmful than scuba diving or photography could be allowed, although permits will be required for all activities.

The private Pew Charitable Trusts, which has pushed for the sanctuary for eight years, is looking at providing some financial relief to people losing their fishing permits in the area.

http://starbulletin.com/2006/06/15/news/story01.html

Posted: Thursday, June 15, 2006
The Honolulu Advertiser

Bush establishes Northwestern Islands monument
Advertiser Staff

President George Bush this morning, with Gov. Linda Lingle and other Hawai‘i officials standing by, signed documents establishing a national monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

It would be the largest marine reserve in the nation, and the largest marine protected area in the world in which no fishing or other taking of marine life is permitted.

"Having visited the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands with Jean-Michel Cousteau, I can attest that this is a special place worthy of the highest levels of protection," Lingle said. She was accompanied by Peter Young, director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, and Sen. Fred Hemmings, R-25th (Kailua-Hawai‘i Kai).
Lingle herself established a no-fishing preserve in state waters in the region last year, and said the state will work closely with the federal government to ensure the joint management of the adjacent areas.

"This seamless partnership between the state and federal government, environmental conservationists, and Native Hawaiian organizations will preserve this special chain of atolls and reefs as a natural and cultural legacy. Together, we are proud to continue our commitment to preserve Hawai‘i‘s natural resources for future generations."

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie added his support to the designation.

"Today‘s Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument designation is a huge victory for those of us who have been fighting for more than a decade to protect this unique ecosystem. It is part and parcel of our efforts to protect Hawai‘i‘s unique marine ecosystems, notably including the establishment of the Humpback Whale Marine Sanctuary," he said.

"I will be looking at legislative options to strengthen protection for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, assuring their permanency and guaranteeing a funding stream for the agencies responsible for enforcement and protection. One option is to overlay the National Monument designation with an additional layer of protective status.

"It‘s important that we not sit back and think this is the end of the story. There‘s still a lot of work to be done before the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have protection fully in place. I remain committed to building on today‘s progress until we achieve that goal," Abercrombie said.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Jun/15/br/br05p.html/?print=on

May 1, 2006
Pacific Business News (Honolulu)

OHA provides $50,000 for fishpond project

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has made a $50,000 grant to help revitalize the He‘eia Fishpond, an 88-acre project in Kāne‘ohe Bay that aims to combine ancient Hawaiian practices with modern commercial aquaculture techniques.

Using the OHA funding, Oceanic Institute, an affiliate of Hawai‘i Pacific University, will provide about 1,000 moi fingerlings in quarterly batches for the fishpond. The moi are tagged to allow for their release and future identification.

Oceanic Institute will also assist with training of 10 members of the staff of Paepae O He‘eia, which oversees the fishpond. The institute will also help the group develop a business plan for selling the fishpond products.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is also providing a one-year $130,000 grant to Paepae O He‘eia for the project.

News Release, April 10, 2006
The Nature Conservancy

Researchers Unveil ‘Super Sucker‘ – New Alien Algae Removal Machine

Marine researchers in Hawai‘i have a new weapon in the battle against alien algae. They call it the “super sucker,” and it acts as an underwater vacuum cleaner to take invasive algae off the reef. Initials tests show it can remove up to 800 pounds in a single hour.

“The super sucker is potentially the difference between watching our reefs slowly succumb to alien algae and returning them to healthy productive ecosystems,” said Celia Smith, a professor and seaweed specialist in the University of Hawaii‘s Botany Department. “We’ve field tested this device and worked out the kinks, and I think we‘ve established it’s a viable tool that can help us get a handle on the alien algae problem."

The new mechanical removal device has been fabricated and piloted in Kāne‘ohe Bay, where it is operated by a small group of trained crewmembers from various partner agencies. The University of Hawai‘i, The Nature Conservancy, and the State Department of Land and Natural Resources / Division of Aquatic Resources are leading the effort.

The pilot project is one component of a larger strategy that includes community-based volunteer clean ups, the use of algae-eating native sea urchins, and the out planting of native algae to repopulate the reef. Local farmers are also involved, recycling the alien algae for use as a fertilizer to grow taro.

Alien algae are a serious threat to Hawaii’s coral reefs. They already dominate large regions of Kāne‘ohe Bay and Oahu’s south shore, and are also abundant on the south shores of Maui and Moloka‘i. In Kāne‘ohe Bay, where the super sucker has been developed and tested, it is helping to fight Gracilaria salicornia, a particularly destructive alga that forms thick, tangled mats that smoother and kill coral. According to Cynthia Hunter, an assistant professor in the UH Manoa Biology Program, Gracilaria fills in the reef and takes away habitat for fish. “It takes a very complex habitat with nooks and crevices and flattens it,” she said. “The coral can only recover if you get the alien algae off of it.”

Community based volunteer efforts to remove Gracilaria began in earnest three years ago in Waikiki and have since spread to other parts of O‘ahu. In total, 20 events involving 2,000 volunteers have removed more than 100 tons of the invasive seaweed. “The volunteer clean ups have been a tremendous success in educating the public and will continue to be an important educational compliment to the super sucker,” said Tony Montgomery, an aquatic biologist with the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources. “But the problem is so pervasive, and the urgency so great, that we need additional tools.”

The idea for the super sucker came out of planning meetings with DLNR, botany and biology researchers, and was taken from concept to machine by The Nature Conservancy. Eric Co, the Conservancy’s marine coordinator, researched and developed the device, which is essentially a modified gold dredger that has been outfitted with a 40-horsepower diesel engine and runs on bio-diesel fuel. "It‘s a Venturi system, which means there are no fans or blades that the collected algae pass through,” Co said. “This is important for two reasons: One, any marine life that is inadvertently collected can be returned. Two, alien algae can reproduce by fragmentation, so the fewer fragments we are collecting during the process, the better."

The super sucker is deployed from a 13 x 25-foot covered barge that is docked at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology and was specifically designed for the project. The entire operation is accomplished with a five-person crew. Two divers, equipped with a four-inch round, 100-foot hose, descend below the surface, where they stuff the alien algae into the suction hose. Aboard the barge, algae and seawater are deposited onto a large porous bin, where sorters separate the by-catch and pack the algae in burlap sacks. The sacks are then delivered to local taro farmers Paul and Charlie Reppun, who have found the algae to be a superior fertilizer.

According to Brian Parscal, the UH operations supervisor for the project, the 800 pounds of alien algae the super sucker removes in an hour is equivalent to the effort generated by 150 volunteers and 10 divers. “The other great advantage of the super sucker is that it‘s portable,” he said. “It can be deployed in critical areas that are more remote, where manual removal efforts would be impractical or impossible.”

But cleaning the reef of alien algae is only half the battle. Gracilaria can quickly return and spreads at a rate of 250 to 300 meters a year. To prevent any new growth, researchers plan to release native sea urchins that feed on the alien algae, and out plant native algae in the cleaned areas. “In small-scale experiments, the urchins have flat out stopped the alien algae from growing back,” said Eric Conklin, a graduate student in Zoology at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology. “What we don’t know yet is how successful the urchins will be at the scale of cleaning entire reefs. And to some extent, how effective the program will be long term may depend on that. Can you clean an area with the super sucker and walk away, or do you need to keep coming back to keep up with the problem?”

Researchers said if the program can be shown to work over large areas, it could pave the way for funding to build additional super suckers. “At that point, we would be in a position to attack the problem at the scale that’s really needed,” Conklin said.

Initial funding for the super sucker has been provided by: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Hawai‘i Community Foundation, Tesoro, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Hawai‘i Invasive Species Council, and the National Sea Grant Program through the support of Hawai‘i Senator Daniel K. Inouye.

Posted on March 10, 2006
The Honolulu Advertiser

Nurseries take a hit to protect environment

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

It may cost thousands of dollars in lost revenue, but a small band of O‘ahu nursery owners has become the first group to sign a pact against selling imported plants that can overrun native ones in the Islands.

The members of the O‘ahu Nursery Growers Association believed that their decision in October was as much to protect their business interests as well as Hawai‘i‘s environment.

"We love plants more than anybody in Hawai‘i. It‘s been my whole life," said Bill Durston, the owner of Leilani Nursery in Waimanalo. "We want to help out — and keep in business. The nursery industry has to lead the way, not be led. We‘re trying to take care of Hawai‘i while getting ahead of (potential) regulations."

Among other things, the eight companies agreed to stop selling seven of the more popular and problematic plants — the Australian tree fern, rubbervine, smokebush, butterfly bush, pampas grass, mule‘s foot fern and glorybush.

The voluntary ban comes with a price: At Durston‘s Leilani Nursery, the Australian tree fern alone accounts for about $42,000 worth of his annual sales.

"Eliminating the Australian tree fern, especially, is a sacrifice for them," said Carter Smith, weed risk assessment liaison with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources‘ Kaulunani Urban Forestry Program. "That‘s a very significant step on their part."

But Christy Martin, spokeswoman for the state Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, said, "a lot of people want to do what‘s right and what‘s good for the environment. We hope it doesn‘t cost them too much because many of us started out running small businesses."

Last year, Martin approached Durston with the idea of getting the O‘ahu Nursery Growers Association to adopt a voluntary code of conduct similar to the one that came out of a 2001 workshop at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

While each island has various nursery, growers and landscapers associations, Martin focused first on Durston and his membership with the O‘ahu Nursery Growers Association.

"The ONGA group has always been very open to these sorts of ideas about protecting Hawai‘i," she said. "And Bill is an important person in the industry. He supplies Costco, Home Depot ... His nursery products are everywhere. I thought, ‘Let‘s get a very well respected and organized group on board and see where we can go from there.‘ "

It took little effort to get each member to sign the agreement.

"We‘re a pretty close-knit group and we understood what is going on," said Richard Nii of R&S Nii Nursery in Hawai‘i Kai, who is the president of the O‘ahu Nursery Growers Association. "We understand, as nursery people, that our job is to sell plants. But we have to be careful that the seeds don‘t germinate all over the place and create a big problem."

Like the other members, Nii has since begun phasing out his inventory of the newly banned plants. Instead, he will encourage customers to buy different varieties that look just as nice but won‘t spread and harm Hawai‘i‘s fragile environment.
Eventually, Nii hopes to replace any lost revenue with new sales of different plants.

And that‘s the point that Martin hopes other groups see as they might consider adopting similar codes of conduct.
"The Australian tree fern is one of the biggest sellers because people like that tropical look, but they don‘t realize the spores blow into the wind and are definitely spreading into the forest," Martin said. "If it costs the same for an Australian tree fern or a giant ‘ape (giant dryland taro), I have faith in people to take care of the environment."

Nii has heard different thoughts on whether other groups will follow the example of the O‘ahu Nursery Growers Association.
It is, after all, a voluntary pact.

"We can‘t twist their arms," Nii said. "We can only hope."

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060310/BUSINESS11/603100333/1071

Sea Debris
Cleanup efforts on the Big Island and Northwestern Hawaiian Isles mark progress against stray nets and plastic that threaten ocean life
Posted Monday, November 28, 2005

By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com
International law prohibits dumping plastics in the ocean. But you couldn‘t tell that from the items volunteer Kathy Frost found during a marine debris cleanup Nov. 19 on the Big Island: laundry baskets, dish soap bottles, pieces of plastic buoys, nets, ropes, fish traps from California, packing crates from Japan.

Frost and 23 others hauled all this and more off the rocky coast between Kaalualu Bay and the green-sand beach. It was the first of four scheduled cleanups for the area that continue one day a month through February.
"It really makes you think about how casually we use plastic and how we dispose of it," Frost said, a semiretired marine mammal researcher.

Whether washing up on the main islands or snaring the endangered monk seals of the Northwestern Islands, marine debris is a major concern for all of the Hawaiian archipelago. In recent years the uninhabited Northwestern Islands, which stretch northwest 1,200 miles beyond Kauai, have been the site of intense cleanup efforts -- and it is starting to pay off.

Thomas O‘Brien, a boatswain‘s mate for the Coast Guard, spent three weeks in August and September as a recovery diver in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

Every net he and co-workers cut from a reef and loaded onto the Coast Guard cutter Walnut was a net that would not trap and kill an endangered Hawaiian monk seal or a threatened green sea turtle.

"I know we did good. We took a whole lot of net off the reefs," O‘Brien said. "And I saw a whole lot of turtles and monk seals."

There has been a lot of progress in removing marine debris from the ocean around Hawaii during the past decade, said Rusty Brainard, chief of the coral reef ecosystem division of the Pacific Islands Fishery Science Center.

More than 540 tons of derelict nets and rope have been removed from the coral reefs and atolls of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, a remote area that is protected as a NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve, as well as by state and U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuges.

Getting marine debris out of the Northwestern Islands began as a cooperative project among the Coast Guard, the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program and Brainard‘s employer, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration‘s Fisheries Service.

A key issue was helping the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, of which there are fewer than 1,300 remaining in the world.

Bud Antonelis, chief of the NOAA Fisheries‘ Pacific Islands Fishery Science Center protected-species division, recalls that in 1996 workers in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands noticed two instances of monk seals entangled in debris stuck on coral reefs.

His division looked underwater, "and we were astounded at the amount of marine debris" they found, Antonelis said.

"We came back and started talking about it," Antonelis said. "Everybody realized that this (marine debris removal) was the right thing to do."

In 1996 and 1997, using existing budgets and available staff from the three lead agencies, with help from 14 other government and nongovernment conservation agencies, nearly five tons of debris were removed from the Northwestern Islands. In 1998 more than eight tons were removed.

Then the effort took off.

With increasing interest in protecting coral reefs nationally and internationally, NOAA earmarked $3 million a year for 2001-2003, Brainard said. Hiring charter boats increased the amount of time committed to marine debris removal, and numbers climbed past 100 tons per year for 2002-2004.

Honolulu‘s HPOWER waste-to-energy plant was enlisted to burn the net and ropes to produce electricity.
Things have gone so well that Brainard expects annual trips to the Northwestern Islands to slow to a "maintenance" level starting next year, even though the grounding of a charter vessel did cause a setback.
"We feel like we have removed the bulk of the debris that had accumulated over the last 40 years," Brainard said, "but we know it‘s continuing to accumulate."

The charter ship Casitas was grounded July 2 at Pearl and Hermes Atoll when it had barely begun removing marine debris for NOAA and had to be scuttled at sea a month later, after fuel and equipment were removed. A Coast Guard investigation into the cause of the grounding is ongoing.

A replacement charter vessel, the Freebird, and Coast Guard cutters Kukui and Walnut were able to collect almost 60 tons of material, Brainard said.

Even if people worldwide stopped throwing debris in the ocean today, it still would take years for what is already out there to come to shore, Brainard said.

It is estimated that 45 to 60 tons a year of marine debris lands on the Northwestern Islands alone, he said.
So, there are no plans to stop the Northwestern Islands program, Brainard said. In addition:

• NOAA is funding the four land-based cleanups on the Big Island this winter, which are being coordinated by the Hawaii Wildlife Fund.
• NOAA is providing $300,000 for aerial surveys of the coastlines of the Big Island and Kauai, which should cover some boat-based cleanups of areas with problems.
• The Hawaii sea grant program and the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council expect to designate a trash bin at Honolulu Harbor for marine debris brought to shore by fishermen.

There are more high-tech ideas for ridding the oceans of debris, Brainard said, including the possible use of unmanned aerial vehicles to search out floating masses of net and report them back to a ship that could pick them up before they snag in coral.

Antonelis noted that in 1999 there were 25 reports of monk seals entangled in nets. Since then, annual reports have gone as low as five a year and never higher than 16 a year, he said.

"It‘s just a huge success," Antonelis said. "I‘m real proud of what we‘ve done."

Ocean Opala
Marine debris removal from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands: