Hawai`i’s forests are under siege. The dry forests have long been held up as the poster child for endangered native landscapes, but a recent study suggests the islands’ wetter rain forests face imminent peril as well. The study’s principal author, … Continued
Clearly, Greg Asner would rather not talk about his 15 minutes of fame. “It’s very embarrassing,” he says of his having been named by Popular Science magazine last October as one of its “brilliant 10” scientists and researchers of 2007. … Continued
The invasive plants called out for special attention in the Carnegie Airborne Observatory surveys are among the most destructive of all forest invaders in Hawai`i. What follows is a short thumbnail sketch of each of them: Kahili Ginger, Hedychium gardnerianum … Continued
While sharks play important roles in the world’s marine ecosystems, there are times when we’d like them to just go away. In the case of the longline fishery, sharks can annihilate or scare away a fisherman’s catch, damage fishing gear, … Continued
When positions are authorized and funds appropriated for them by the Legislature, state departments can realize savings when the positions are vacant. But when other employees have to carry the extra workload of the vacancies, the savings can be eroded … Continued
Stand in the halls of the Kalanimoku Building in downtown Honolulu long enough, and you’re bound to overhear staffers with the Department of Land and Natural Resources complain over the lack of money or personnel that prevents them from carrying … Continued
When Michael Kohn announced his intention to build a facility at Honolulu International Airport to irradiate fruit for export markets, his plans called for it to be up and running by February 2006. More than two years later, the license … Continued
A New High and Low: First, the good news: In 2007, 14 endangered Hawaiian monk seal pups were born in the Main Hawaiian Islands, the highest number on record. The bad news is that the monk seal population in the … Continued
For the first time, the Hawai`i longline fleet is operating under catch limits for its most lucrative haul – bigeye tuna – throughout virtually the entire area it fishes. Yet the trade group representing the 125 or so longline vessels … Continued
For Kitty Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, what happened on Saturday, July 25, must have felt like a palace coup. At the tail end of a four-day meeting of the council in Kona, Simonds had … Continued