enviro court

As of July 1, Hawaiʻi will become the second state to implement a court dedicated exclusively to environmental issues.  

Last week Friday, Kirsten and Brad attended a symposium at the UH Mānoa Richardson School of Law, where they learned about environmental court systems around the world, the history of Hawaiʻi’s environmental court, how the Hawaiʻi’s court will work.  The symposium was facilitated by Denise Antolini, associate law dean at UH Mānoa’s law school who previously served on the Commission of Water Resource Management.

India has the largest and most powerful environmental courts in the world, the National Green Tribunal of India (NGT). The chairperson of the NGT, Swatanter Kumar along with Dr. C. Raj Kumar, the Vice Chancellor of the O.P. Jindal Global University and Dean of the Jindal Global Law school and four of his students were in attendance at the symposium to share about their court and experiences in environmental law.

There is no better place for an environmental court; the State of Hawaiʻi is incredibly dependent on its beautiful natural environment not only to sustain its tourism-based economy but most importantly for resources to house and feed its residents.  Hawaiʻi has a strong constitutional foundation and environmental laws already in place, its just a matter of educating and enforcing the existing infrastructure.

The environmental court will be statewide, with district and circuit courts in each of Hawaiʻi’s counties.  22 judges familiar with and trained in environmental law have been appointed to serve in this court.  The court will cover cases dealing in environmental impact statements and assessments, Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR): Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR), Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR), water commission issues, and mostly Divison of Conservation and Resource Enforcement (DOCARE) violations.

Hawaiian rights will also be an important part of the environmental court.  “Even though it’s not explicit, it is interwoven in a lot of cases, sometimes criminal and sometimes civil”, says Denise Antolini.

Click here to read more.

uhu, whales, seals, turtles, oh my!

Maui Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) will be hosting an outreach event to share information on the protection of humpback whales, monk seals, sea turtles, and other marine species.

Maui DLNR and NOAA will be at the Kīhei Boat Ramp in South Maui and the Māla Ramp in West Maui on Saturday and Sunday, March 14 & 15 from 8am- noon.  

Just remember the guidelines for safe protected species viewing:

• Turtles: Keep a 6-10 foot buffer as a best practice.  Please do not touch, pick-up, restrain, jump over, straddle, pursue, ride, harass, harm, or otherwise disturb.  These actions can be considered illegal and federal and state consequences apply.
• Whales: Federal regulations prohibit coming within 100 yards of whales when on the water and 1,000 feet of them when operating an aircraft.
• Hawaiian Monk Seals: Please give them their space if they are hauled out on beaches, do not enter roped off areas, if a seal approaches you, move away to avoid interaction and cautiously exit the water.  Please keep your dogs on a leash when in the presence of monk seals to avoid injury and disease transmission.
  • If you see an injured or entangled marine mammals call the Marine Mammal Stranding and Entangled hotline at 888-256-9840.

They will also be educating ocean users on the new fishing rules that went into effect on November 1, 2014.

holomua!

Congratulations to Hāʻena and DLNR on making history last Friday! Hāʻena received their Community Based Subsistence Fishing Area (CBSFA) designation from the State of Hawaii Board of Land and Natural Resources.  Moving forward, the community will be able to manage their resources on a more local and traditional level.  It has been at least a decade in the making, with countless public meetings and drafts to their proposed rules, but last week it all became a reality.  Mālama pono.

Photo Credit: Sean Marrs

For the full story please visit The Garden Island, Hawaii News Now, and DLNR.

Nui news on Maui

Great news for both TNC & Maui!

DLNR announced on Monday that they will officially be including a recent 3,721-acre addition to The Nature Conservancy Waikamoi Preserve into the state’s Natural Area Partnership Program, a program that encourages innovative partnerships across landowner boundaries.

Last April, the East Maui Irrigation Company, Ltd. granted TNC a conservation easement over the 3,741-acre plot that was adjacent to TNC’s existing Waikamoi Preserve.  Combined, these two parcels add up to be the largest natural preserve at almost 9,000 acres.

Boardwalk, Waikamoi Preserve, Maui
PC: Grady Timmons

The new extension spans from 3,600 to 9,500 feet above sea level, consisting of undeveloped rainforests; ʻōhiʻa forests that are home to 20 threatened or endangered plant and animal species including ʻākohekohe and kiwikiu.

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Last week, DLNR announced that Wailuku Water Company would be releasing 10 million gallons of water per day into the ʻIao stream, starting Monday, October 13, 2014.   This is the first time in more than a century that there will be continuous water flow through ʻIao stream; the diversion of this stream dates back to the 1800’s.   This is not just good news for Maui, but provides an example for what can happen in the future.  The fight wasn’t easy for Wailuku and it took over 10 years to get to where they are today, but the water that is flowing means a lot to those who have fought for this for so long.

A lot of conservation doesn’t happen overnight but hard work and dedication truly pays off in the long end.  Congratulations to everyone that was involved in both of these great accomplishments!

hoooohoooo where’s all the uhu?

Uhu (parrotfish), kumu & moano (goatfish) are some of the most sought after fish (so ono!) throughout the islands, traditionally and still today.  Currently, statewide, the only regulation on uhu is a minimum size of 12 inches, regardless of species or gender, while the regulation on kumu and moano are a minimum catch size of 10 and 7 inches, respectively.  The existing regulations are problematic for several reasons, the female uhu are likely being fished before reaching reproductive size and the terminal males are a prized catch because of their larger size.

Uhu are protogynous hermaphrodites, they are born female and change to a male when they reach a certain size.  Uhu also expressing sexual dichromatism, males having more color, ie, the bright blue colors, in comparison to the females.

The new proposed rules to be implemented on Maui will put a bag limit of 2 uhu per person per day, also regulating the smaller uhu including Scarus psittacus, Scarus dubius, Chlorurus spilurus, Calotomus zonarchus, and Calotomus carolinus to a 10 inch mimimum take size and the larger uhu, including Chlorurus perspicillatus, uhu ‘uli’uli and Scarus rubroviolaceus, palukaluka, to a minimum take size of 14 inches and no take of blue males.  The rules also include new regulations on goatfish, with a minimum take size at 12 inches for Parupeneus porphyreus, kumu, Mulloidichthys pflugeri, weke nono, and Parupeneus cyclostomus, moana kea with additional bag limits for kumu at 1 fish per person per day and weke nono and moano kea at 2 fish per person per day.

The Board of Land and Natural Resources will consider the rules on Friday.

For the full news video with Hawaii News Now, click here.

Conservation for the people

Amidst the prevailing winds, plentiful windsurfers, and sharky waters of Wailuku lie beautiful reefs and happy fishes.  Standing on the dock of Kahului Harbor, looking out onto the seas, one may never wish to jump right into these waters and go for a swim.  Yet last week, the marine monitoring team along with Kirsten jumped right in and conducted some ecosystem surveys.

kydd & roxie ready to drop in

The water was fun, however the highlight of the trip were the connections that were made.  The crew had the chance to connect with the Community Fisheries Enforcement Unit (CFEU), a one of a kind DLNR/DOCARE unit that focuses their efforts on patrolling a 13 mile wide stretch of coast on North Maui.  This stretch of coast sees a lot of fishing pressure and provides protein sustenance for the surrounding communities.  Not only does the CFEU practice enforcement they also promote pono fishing practices through education and community outreach.  What stands out the most about the CFEU personnel is their dedication to their jobs, you can see their passion radiate when they speak of their experiences with the community and the water.  The crew has an unprecedented knowledge of the coastline from resident marine life populations to benthic habitats to daily tidal changes, but what is more surprising is the general level of respect the local fishermen hold for the CFEU unit.

CFEU NIGHT PATROL from Hawaii DLNR on Vimeo.

The unit just made their one year mark, and the crew said with grins across their faces “its only maintenance now.  When we started, endless amounts of calls were coming in and violations were plentiful.  Now its all about maintaining our presence and continuing to build relationships with the local communities.”  Their success is undeniable, they have seen a 21% decrease in illegal fishing complaints in the past year, conducted 468 fisher inspections, and have observed a 88% compliance rate with fishing regulations.  Already, the officers are seeing an improvement in the fish populations in the surrounding areas.

For more information on the CFEU please visit the DLNR site here.