Na Moku `Aupuni o Ko`olau Hui’s decade-long fight to get more water released into East Maui streams has hit a snag. On September 15, the Hawai`i Intermediate Court of Appeals affirmed its August 31 decision to dismiss Na Moku’s appeal … Continued
The cost to operate a stream gage is roughly $22,500 a year. The potential cost, in lives and property, of not operating it is incalculable. So, when the U.S. Geological Survey announced recently that it would be ceasing operations of … Continued
After trying for more than two years to lift restrictions protecting federally listed sea turtles, the Hawai`i longline industry was dealt a setback on January 31, when the U.S. Department of Justice and three conservation groups entered into a settlement … Continued
The state Land Use Commission has reaffirmed its vote in January to revert to the Agricultural District more than 1,000 acres of land near Waikoloa. For more than two decades, the land was in the Urban District, while a series … Continued
On the Big Island, where a proposal to introduce axis deer in the 1970s ground to a halt after environmentalists raised hell, rumors abound now that axis deer have arrived anyway and that a reproducing population of them exists in … Continued
Best available science – science uncorrupted by overweening economic objectives or political interests. That’s the kind of science that is supposed to guide the nation’s fishery management councils as they advise the federal agencies that ultimately decide such important issues … Continued
“I am concerned about the Deep 7 bottomfish fishery. We were overfishing in the past. We are not overfishing now. We could be overfishing in the near future if we make the wrong decision now,” warned National Marine Fisheries Service … Continued
Mariculture is on the move in Hawai`i. At least, that’s the hope of investors in two enterprises, one in Kona and one on O`ahu. In the case of the Kona operation, Blue Ocean Mariculture LLC is proposing a 260 percent … Continued
At the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council’s meeting in June, Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) research ecologist Amanda Bradford presented new data on the ranges of Hawaiian false killer whales (FKW), which the council then seized on as proof … Continued
The lecture hall at the University of Hawai`i at Hilo was packed to the rafters for two days in June. Under the direction of Stanford University’s Peter Vitousek, one of the foremost figures in the study of Hawaiian ecosystems, around … Continued