American Samoa Wins: The government of American Samoa has prevailed in a federal court challenge to the National Marine Fisheries Service and Western Pacific Fishery Management Council executive director Kitty Simonds, among others. The case involved the decision by the … Continued
October 2017
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
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
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
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
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
In short, it’s still there, blanketed in naupaka, just as the abutting landowners want it to be. Efforts to clean up the legal morass surrounding its existence are in limbo. In August 2015, Environment Hawai‘i published a cover story on … Continued