A Voice for Kaʻu Is Lost: On January 24, Julia Neal, founder and editor of the Kaʻu Calendar, passed away in Pahala. In 2002, she founded the newspaper, which was distributed in print to residents of the Kaʻu District on … Continued
In June 2020, Launiupoko Irrigation Company filed a request for a rate increase with the Public Utilities Commission. Among other things, it sought PUC approval for nearly $10 million in loans that it had received from Peter Martin, who holds … Continued
More Protections for Cetaceans: At its recent meeting in Fiji, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission adopted a measure intended to provide some measure of protection to whales and dolphins that interact with longline fishing vessels throughout the vast … Continued
For nearly three decades, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has conducted or supported regular hauls of marine debris from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Most of it is made up of derelict fishing gear, and most of that is non-biodegradable … Continued
The United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution gathered recently in Busan, Korea, in what was supposed to be its fifth and final meeting in an effort to come up with a treaty to reduce plastic production. On December … Continued
What is driving down the population of false killer whales around the Main Hawaiian Islands? A paper just published in the journal Endangered Species Research suggests that the fishing activities of thousands of commercial and recreational fishers operating in nearshore … Continued
On October 29, Governor Josh Green announced the appointment of V.R. Hinano Rodrigues to fill the spot on the Commission on Water Resource Management reserved for an expert in Hawaiian culture and traditions. Within a week, a complaint alleging numerous … Continued
Hawaiʻi law provides for an unusual – in Hawaiʻi, at least – process to select members of the state Commission on Water Resource Management. A special four-person committee considers applicants for vacancies on the commission. Two of them are named … Continued
News of the selection of V.R. Hinano Rodrigues was not welcomed by many of the same groups who had pushed to have the governor pick a candidate from the two remaining on the original list forwarded to him in February. … Continued
Kona Three Goes Down: The long and fraught controversy over a housing development proposed more than 40 years ago just south of Kailua-Kona seems to have come to an end. On November 20, the Hawaiʻi County Council voted down a … Continued