January 2016 PDF
January 2016
Two New Alternative Energy Projects In Line for Approval by NELHA Board
The Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai`i Authority has been transformed in the few years since its former executive director, Ron Baird, departed. At a meeting of the NELHA board last month, presentations by prospective tenants suggested the state-owned facility, now … Continued
Commission Adopts Measures to Protect Fishery Observers in Western, Central Pacific
“How many observers or crew members have to die before WPCFC takes action? … This. Must. End. Charlie, Keith, and all the other missing observers deserve better,” the World Wide Fund for Nature’s Bubba Cook told the Western and Central … Continued
Whatever Happened to … The Villages of `Aina Le`a
In 1989, the state Land Use Commission approved a redistricting petition that shifted about 1,000 acres of Agricultural land in South Kohala, on the west side of the Big Island, into the Urban district. Signal Puako, the landowner, had planned … Continued
Fisheries Commission Makes No Headway Toward Reducing Hauls of Pacific Bigeye
The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission closed its annual meeting last month, having failed again to significantly strengthen its measure aimed at ending overfishing of tropical tunas, especially bigeye. But it wasn’t for lack of trying. Ahead of the … Continued
Court Upholds Transfer of Bigeye Quota to Hawai`i Longline Fleet
For years, environmental groups and some members of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) have groused about the Hawai`i longline fleet being allowed to skirt its international bigeye tuna quota by attributing some of its catch to U.S. … Continued
NEW & NOTEWORTHY: Olowalu Town Nixed, FEMA Funds
Olowalu Town Nixed: Last month, at the end of a 12-hour-long hearing, the Land Use Commission refused to accept a final environmental impact statement for a residential development of 1,500 units in West Maui first proposed more than 10 years … Continued
Greenpeace Busts Taiwanese Shark Finning Operation
Perhaps nothing highlights the need to tighten WCPFC’s shark finning and transshipment measures more than Greenpeace’s documentation last September 9 of the activities of the Taiwanese vessel Shuen De Ching 888. “The catch log indicated only three blue sharks were … Continued
Loopholes in Measures to Protect Sharks, Limit Transshipments Withstand Protests
Several years ago, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission adopted a measure ostensibly aimed at banning shark finning, a practice that has helped drive several shark species worldwide toward extinction. But at last month’s annual commission meeting, as the … Continued