Scathing. That may be the single best word to describe the Hawai‘i Supreme Court’s characterization of arguments put forward by the Department of Land and Natural Resources in defense of the department’s position that the commercial collection of aquarium fish … Continued
Five years after the Department of Land and Natural Resources was sued over its practice of indiscriminately awarding permits for aquarium fish collection, four years after the lower court ruling was challenged in the Intermediate Court of Appeals, and more … Continued
Did the 2014 amendments to Kaua‘i County’s shoreline setback ordinance weaken what was once considered to be one of the strongest laws of its kind in the state? Unlike O‘ahu, where shoreline setbacks are 40 feet from the certified shoreline, … Continued
Every year, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) holds its annual meeting in December mainly to hash out how to best manage tuna stocks that have been depleted over the years by purse seiners and longline vessels. … Continued
Over the past year, Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. went from cultivating tens of thousands of acres of one of the thirstiest crops, sugarcane, to raising cattle, experimenting with biofuel crops on a tiny fraction of that land, and working … Continued
October 2017
Abby Frazier, a research geographer with the USDA Forest Service, will be the featured speaker when Environment Hawai`i hosts its annual dinner, to be held this year on October 20 at the `Imiloa Astronomy Center, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Frazier, … Continued
Things are about to get a bit tighter for the Hawai`i longline fleet. On September 1, the National Marine Fisheries Service closed the Hawai`i longline fishery in the Western and Central Pacific because the fleet had exceeded its annual bigeye … Continued
It may make no practical difference. Votes by the appointed members of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Wespac) have traditionally been unanimous. But at the council’s June meeting, Elena Onaga of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of … Continued
With the closure last December of Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar’s (HC&S) sugarcane plantation, most of its former fields in Central Maui now sit fallow. Some cattle graze on a small portion, and the company has made moves to grow bioenergy … Continued