State Parks<\/b><\/p>\n
Cesspool Settlement<\/b><\/p>\n In a proposed settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the DLNR\u2019s Division of State Parks has managed to reduce its proposed fine of $187,500 for failing to close large capacity cesspools (LCC) at Wainapanapa State Park on Maui down to $50,000. In exchange for the reduced fine, the division will close several other cesspools at park facilities throughout the state.<\/p>\n More than a decade ago, the division entered into a consent agreement with the EPA to decommission all large capacity cesspools, which are those that serve more than 20 people or more a day or serve multiple dwellings. State Parks had dozens of LCCs throughout the state.<\/p>\n Although one LCC at Wainapanapa State Park had been included in the consent agreement, those that served the park\u2019s rental cabins were not. Each of those cesspools served two cabins, but because each cabin only holds six people, the division had not moved to close the cesspools, apparently believing they didn\u2019t qualify as LCCs. Once the division realized it did, indeed, need to close the six cesspools there, it planned to coordinate the work with cabin renovations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cabins were booked. We tried to schedule [the work] when we were going to decommission the use of the cabins and the cesspools all at one time but the EPA got a little more aggressive than we were used to,\u201d division administrator Curt Cottrell told the Land Board at its December meeting. Rather than waiting for the division to get its funds and plans in order, the EPA chose to impose a fine of $187,500.<\/p>\n Rather than paying the whole fine, the division is being allowed to pay $50,000 if it also does decommissions cesspools at caretaker residences and concession buildings that had been grandfathered in by the EPA. Although the Land Board approved in December the settlement terms and authorized its chair to sign the final agreement, the legislature must still appropriate the funds.<\/p>\n The cesspools at Wainapanapa were closed in July 2015.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/b><\/p>\n Koloa Duck<\/b><\/p>\n Hybridization Study<\/b><\/p>\n The koloa is the only native Hawaiian bird facing extinction from hybridization with an invasive species, the mallard duck, according to a report by the DLNR\u2019s Division of Forestry and Wildlife. With an estimated population of 2,200, koloa are among the world\u2019s most threatened waterfowl, it states.<\/p>\n So on December 11, the Land Board authotized its chair to enter into an agreement with the University of California Davis, which will analyze genes in more than 200 koloa blood samples to determine the extent of hybridization. Using physical measurements taken from museum specimens and birds sampled on Kaua`i, the university will also \u201cinvestigate links between morphological characteristics and hybrid status, ideally to identify characteristics that managers can use to discriminate mallards from Hawaiian ducks and hybrids,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n The agreement, effective through June 30, will provide $12,200 in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant funds to UC-Davis.<\/p>\n The genetic analysis will start with samples taken from ducks around O`ahu, DOFAW wildlife program manager James Cogswell told the Land Board.<\/p>\n The results will \u201chelp us to determine how to proceed with how to manage the hybridization,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter you do the research, what would be the remedy? Shoot the [hybrid] ducks? \u2026 That would be a real difficult solution,\u201d Kaua`i Land Board member Tommy Oi said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is an option on the table,\u201d Cogswell replied.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ***<\/b><\/p>\n Sea Cucumber Rules Pass<\/b><\/p>\n Despite Worry Over Aquarium Take<\/b><\/p>\n To protect Hawai`i\u2019s populations of sea cucumbers from the kind of over-harvesting that has devastated other areas where commercial operations have taken root, Gov. David Ige last December signed rules banning the commercial take of sea cucumbers, except by aquarium collectors on O`ahu, who are allowed to take up to 20 sea cucumbers a day. In total, they may harvest up to 3,600 a year.<\/p>\n In a press release, the Department of Land and Natural Resource\u2019s Division of Aquatic Resources administrator Bruce Anderson commended his staff and that of the department\u2019s enforcement division for quickly responding to a mass-harvesting of sea cucumbers last summer on Maui \u2014 the first event of its kind in Hawai`i. The DLNR immediately requested and received Land Board approval to temporarily ban commercial harvesting of sea cucumbers. Rules imposing a permanent ban were approved last December 11 by the Land Board.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout this prompt action the short-lived, mass harvest of sea cucumbers could have been an ecological disaster for the sea cucumber and its role in the health of Hawaii\u2019s coral reefs,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n But at the Land Board\u2019s December meeting, critics of the state\u2019s aquarium trade lamented the exemption allowing the industry to take up to 3,600 sea cucumbers a year.<\/p>\n Inga Gibson, Hawai`i director of the Humane Society of the United States, argued that the exception was not based on any science proving that level is sustainable. She noted that the industry reported harvesting 14,000 sea cucumbers in 2004 and by 2014, the take had dropped\u00a0 to 2,260.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile take has decreased in the last ten years, right now the submittal proposes to allow 3,600 cucumbers to be taken and again, primarily by the aquarium trade,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need to know more about what the sustainability levels are.\u201d<\/p>\n Marjorie Ziegler, director of the Conservation Council for Hawai`i, added that while it was not objecting to the take of sea cucumbers for home consumption, which the new rules allow, \u201cwithout numbers, it\u2019s hard to support even that.\u201d<\/p>\n Rebutting Gibson\u2019s arguments that the take level wasn\u2019t based on science, DAR\u2019s Alton Miyasaka explained that it actually was. In fact, it was based on the same harvest data Gibson had referred to. DAR reviewed harvest levels of the most recent eight year that it has data. In that period, the take was never greater than 3,300. The division rounded that up to 3600.<\/p>\n He added that although he doesn\u2019t expect collectors to reach the annual limit, DAR will track catch via monthly catch reports submitted by permittees and will be able to predict accurately if and when the limit will be reached.<\/p>\n Maui Land Board member Jimmy Gomes seemed unconvinced the 3,600 level was sustainable and asked Miyasaka if he knew what the reproductive capacity of the current sea cucumber population was.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m just afraid the aquarium people would wipe it out and it starts hurting our [reef] ecosystem,\u201d Gomes said.<\/p>\n Miyasaka did not directly answer Gomes\u2019s questions, but explained that DAR has more than 40 years of data on the sea cucumber fishery and that the pre-2008 take by aquarium fishers was much higher than the new take limit.<\/p>\n \u201c2008 is when the economic crisis hit the U.S. and demand for aquarium products plunged,\u201d Miyasaka said, adding that DAR felt basing a harvest cap on post-2008 take levels was a\u00a0 conservative approach.<\/p>\n \u201cWe feel at that level, 3600 animals, the long-term catch doesn\u2019t show it\u2019s excessive. \u2026 We wanted to cap it where it is so it didn\u2019t expand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n — Teresa Dawson<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sparks Fly Over Fireworks Permit, $2,500 Deposit to Clean Up Debris For years, right-of-entry permits brought by the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Land Division for fireworks displays at state beaches have garnered little, if any, opposition. Last year, a … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[398],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-8793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-march-2016","tag-teresa-dawson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"400px-Waianapanapa_State_Park\"](\"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/400px-Waianapanapa_State_Park.jpg\")
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