This year is the 60thanniversary of the end of World War II. And early last month, as part of a WWII history tour, war buffs traveled by cruise ship to Midway atoll in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, where in June 1942, Japanese and American forces engaged in a fierce air and sea battle. Midway is a National Wildlife Refuge, and home to monk seals, albatross, and most recently, translocated Laysan duck (Midway\u2019s Hawaiian name Pihemanu means \u2018the loud din of birds\u2019.) But Midway is also a war memorial, and as such, it occasionally hosts tourists.<\/p>\n
On June 17, passengers and crew of the Hawaiian voyaging canoe Hokule\u2018a embarked on a different kind of pilgrimage. The canoe set sail on a 10-day voyage to Nihoa and the heiau\u00ad rich Mokumanamana (Necker Island), where Native Hawaiian cultural practioners planned to conduct ceremonies.<\/p>\n
With the increasing publicity the North west Hawaiian Islands have been getting \u2013a result of an impending National Marine Sanc tuary designation, the state\u2019s recent decision to protect its waters there from extractive uses, and a proposal floated by Rep. Ed Case for further restrictions in federal water \u2013who\u2019s doing what around those far away shoals and atolls has become a hot topic.<\/p>\n
At a June 2 meeting of the Reserve Advisory Council of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve, Don Palawski of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service explained the how things have been done at Midway.<\/p>\n
When evaluating any \u201cwildlife-dependent\u201d activities, Palawski said the service asks, \u201cDoes it benefit management?\u201d With regard to the cruise ships, he said requests for access to Midway are usually made a year in advance. Once the ship arrives, it does not dock, but anchors offshore. Weather permitting, 50 to 75 passengers at a time are ferried from the ship to the atoll, then are driven by FWS interpreters from one his toric point to the next.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not 1,000 people walking around everywhere,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
The cruise ship people pay for all of FWS expenses incurred by each visit, and the ship is not allowed to discharge its ballast water within 12 miles of the atoll. Next year, two such cruises are planned, he said, adding that interest in the area has been increasing.<\/p>\n
At the June RAC meeting, reserve acting coordinator \u2018Aulani Wilhelm delivered a report on all of the permits her agency had issued for activities in the reserve so far:
\nIn 2003, five permits were issued for projects associated with a single National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration cruise in September of that year. Those permits went to Craig Smith, Frank Parrish, Amy Baco-Taylor, Chris Taylor, and fi nally, to Baco-Taylor and Timothy Shank.<\/p>\n
In 2004, two permits were requested and approved. This time, however, the reserve decided not to issue permits for specific activities, but instead, granted researchers Robert Marshall and Joseph O\u2019Malley a \u201cmanager\u2019s permit\u201d for two lobster tagging cruises. Reserve scientist Randall Kosaki received the other manager\u2019s permit for a single Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (NOWRAMP) cruise.<\/p>\n
In 2005, Wilhelm says the reserve went back to issuing activity-specific permits because it allowed staff to better track ac tivities, and ensure that permit conditions are met and reports are submitted in a timely manner. As of early June, nine per mits had been requested, and four were approved. Again, those permits \u2014 for Greta Aeby, Carl Meyer, Kosaki, and Alan Bowen \u2013 were associated with a single NOAA re search cruise, from May 14 through June 7.<\/p>\n
Permit requests are first reviewed by reserve staff. Then, Wilhelm states in an email to Environment Hawai\u2018i, external reviewers examine proposed activities, par ticularly research and cultural ones, to make sure they meet certain criteria and \u201cbring value to the resource and the Reserve. The Reserve regularly consults with the USFWS and the State of Hawai\u2018i, which are usually also engaged in reviewing the same permit requests, as most activities in the NWHI take place nearshore. Depending on the nature of the request, the permit may be signed by the Reserve Coordinator, or may require review and approval by the Direc tor of the National Marine Sanctuaries Program. Conversely, if the USFWS or State are approached and\/or become aware of a proposed activity that would take place in the Reserve, they inform us and Reserve staff will follow up on the matter accord ingly.\u201d<\/p>\n
During her presentation to the RAC, Wilhelm acknowledged that a number of people who have worked in the NWHI have discovered too late that they needed reserve permits. She added that permittees are re quired to submit reports on what they did in the reserve upon their return, but that condi tion had not been strictly enforced in the past. But it will be, she added, now that the reserve has hired someone \u2013 Moani Pai \u2013 to track permit compliance.<\/p>\n
Reserve Advisory Council member Paul Achitoff, an attorney with the environmental law firm Earthjustice, asked Wilhelm what mechanisms existed to let people know when they need a permit.<\/p>\n
Wilhelm responded that the reserve was meeting regularly with the other NWHI permitting agencies (state Division of Aquatic Resources, the Western Pacific Fishery Man agement Council, and Fish and Wildlife) to discuss what activities are going on where and how to share resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuppose there\u2019s someone who wants to go out there who you\u2019re not regularly inter acting with, [such as] someone who wants to harvest sea sponges\u2026. What mechanism is there that you would find out?\u201d Achitoff asked.<\/p>\n
Other than hearing reports \u201con the wind\u201d from other vessels operating in the NWHI, Wilhelm acknowledged that her staff was still trying to figure that out. Education and outreach are important, she said. \u201cYour last question is a tough one\u2026 That\u2019s the million dollar question,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Palawski added that his agency also should face up to the need to advertise permitting information on its websites, es pecially now that the northwestern islands have been receiving so much publicity. A state representative added that it needs to post permitting information about its new Northwest Hawaiian Islands Refuge on its website, as well, and perhaps link it to the FWS site. Department of Land and Natural Resources administrator Peter Young said at the June meeting of the fisheries manage ment council that the state\u2019s rules governing the new Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine Refuge will likely go into effect by the end of summer.<\/p>\n
The reserve is currently updating its bathymetric maps so that people can know where the reserve\u2019s boundaries are and determine whether they need a permit. Once the maps are available, Wilhelm said, user workshops need to be held. NWHI bottomfisherman Bobby Gomes suggested that the reserve staff also work with navigation software companies, since many fishermen use computers rather than maps to navigate.<\/p>\n
With so many different agencies hav ing jurisdiction in the NWHI \u2013 the re serve, the state, the FWS, and the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council \u2013 \u201cIt would be ideal to streamline [permit ting]. Sometimes regulations and laws get in the way of common sense,\u201d Wilhelm said.<\/p>\n
Alien Species<\/i><\/b>
\nIn addition to grappling with the per mitting process, the reserve is also trying to keep vessels from contaminating the NWHI waters with invasive marine spe\u00adcies. Allen Tom of the National Marine Sanctuary Program explained to the Reserve Advisory Council that the re serve is partnering with the Hawai\u2018i Institute of Marine Biology to come up with best management practices and protocols for all research vessels traveling to the NWHI. The reserve wants vessels to be free of alien spe cies before they enter reserve waters.<\/p>\n
Captains of some ships, Tom said, \u201clook at me like we\u2019re crazy when we talk about this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilhelm added that it\u2019s been difficult to define what is clean, and determine what is reasonable and who pays for the vessel cleaning.<\/p>\n
— Teresa Dawson<\/p>\n
Volume 16, Number 1 July 2005<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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