Aquatic Resources

(Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park) – This holiday weekend, fishermen from Kaua‘i’s west side and from the north shore joined forces with a team from the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) to try and remove invasive Black Chin Tilapia from Nu‘alolo Bay here.

(Honolulu) - Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Coral Reef Watch program, indicates Hawai‘i’s coral reefs are entering a major bleaching event within the next two months, if not sooner.

(Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park) - Thousands of black-chin tilapia have invaded near-shore waters in the Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park on Kaua‘i. Fishermen first reported seeing large schools of mostly juvenile tilapia over the past two weeks.  Yesterday a team from the DLNR Divisions of Aquatic Resources (DAR) and Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) conducted in-water surveys at the Nu‘alolo Kai section of the park and confirmed the reports.

(Kailua-Kona) – Dramatic photographs of two oceanic whitetip sharks, lacking fins, along with photographs of a dead, three-and-a-half-foot long whitetip reef shark is raising concern among marine biologists on Hawai‘i Island.

(Honolulu)-The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) will be participating in the State of Hawaii Career Fair on Saturday, June 29, 2019, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Hawaii State Capitol, 4th Floor Lanai, at 415 S. Beretania Street.

(Honolulu)-Four of the 12 Bottomfish Restricted Fishing Areas (BRFAs) around the state are scheduled to re-open to Deep-7 bottomfish fishing on July 1, 2019.  They include BRFA C (Makahū‘ena, Kaua‘i), BRFA F (Penguin Banks), BRFA J (Mokumana-Umalei Pt, Maui), and BRFA L (Leleiwi Pt, Hawai‘i Island). 

(Honolulu) – This morning a small team from the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) carefully ‘planted’ extremely rare, endemic Porites duerdeni coral onto a reef in Kaneohe Bay just off Coconut Island, home of the University of Hawai‘i’s, Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology.  This species of coral was likely wiped out during major bleaching events in 2015 and 2016 and previously was thought to grow in the bay as one of the few places in the world where it’s found.

DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES News Release DAVID Y. IGE GOVERNOR SUZANNE D. CASE CHAIRPERSON For Immediate News Release: June 3, 2019 2019 OPEN FISHING SEASON STARTING JUNE 15 ...
Read More 06/03/19-2019 OPEN FISHING SEASON STARTING JUNE 15 FOR RAINBOW TROUT AT KOKE‘E PUBLIC FISHING AREA, KAUA‘I

(Kailua-Kona) -- Celebrate the fourth annual World Oceans Day at Hāpuna Beach State Recreation Area on June 8, 2019 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is free, except for a $5 parking fee at Hapuna Beach State Recreation Area for non-Hawai‘i residents.

(Hilo) – One of the most rugged and hard-to-reach beaches in Hawai‘i has been infamously dubbed “plastic beach, trash beach and rubbish beach.” Not so long ago the strips of white sand at Kamilo Point on Hawai‘i Island were chest-high in plastic debris, off all sizes, shapes and variety; washed ashore by ocean currents.