The most heated discussions during the three-day meeting of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council last month concerned the reach of the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa. For years, council executive director Kitty Simonds has made no secret of … Continued
After a ban on congressional earmarks, many thought the practice of members of Congress setting aside special funds for favored projects may have ended. Not so fast. Nowadays, expenditures for pet projects not included in the proposed budgets of federal … Continued
A year ago, the nightly network newscasts were focused on the extravagant spending by the General Services Administration – specifically, a Las Vegas convention for its employees that cost taxpayers $820,000. After congressional inquiries into the event, attended by 320 … Continued
Council Loses an Advisor: Robin Baird, one of the leading experts on false killer whales in waters around Hawai`i, has resigned from the Protected Species Advisory Committee of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Wespac). Baird resigned effective January 31. The … Continued
Humpback Delisting Petition: A newly formed association claiming to represent Hawai`i fishermen wants to remove the North Pacific population of humpback whales from the federal list of endangered species.The group, calling itself Hawai`i Fishermen’s Alliance for Conservation and Tradition, Inc. (HFACT), … Continued
None of the council members seemed particularly bothered by what pre-eminent marine scientist Jeffrey Polovina just told them — that there is clear evidence longline fishers in Hawaiian waters are “fishing down the food web.” The term refers to fishery-induced … Continued
When does a law not mean what it says? Apparently, whenever the National Marine Fisheries Service decides Congress must have made a mistake. That is what has happened in the case of the Commerce Appropriations Act that was passed in … Continued
DLNR Proposes Strict Size, Bag Limits On Fish Catches Around Maui, Lana`i On June 12, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources approved a request by the state Division of Aquatic Resources to hold public hearings on some rather … Continued
What if you threw a party with no food? In Hawai`i, that is simply unthinkable. Yet, if the federal government’s response to our repeated requests for information about a party thrown by the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Wespac) last … Continued
False Killer Whale Recovery Plan: The beginning of this month was the deadline to submit information to the National Marine Fisheries Service on a recovery plan for the endangered insular stock of Hawaiian false killer whales. On October 2, the day … Continued