(Līhue) – Kaua‘i hunters are invited to apply for special use permits to hunt goats, pigs, and deer on closed hunting days in State Forest Reserves, Natural Area Reserves, and Game Management Areas. Usually, most hunting areas on Kaua‘i are open only weekends (Friday-Monday). Beginning on Monday, May 18, people who want to hunt on closed days can submit an online application at www.KauaiForestUsers.com.
(Honolulu) – Today, as DOCARE Officer Fagota Tataipu Jr. recounted the Mother’s Day 1999 Sacred Falls tragedy, it was hard holding his emotions back. While patrolling the long-closed state park, Tataipu tearfully commented, “It’s one of those incidents in your life that you can never forget. It’s one of those, that even though Mother’s Day is a special day, you can’t help but reflect back on 1999 when we came up here because of the rockslide and so many moms that lost their lives.”
(Honolulu) – Hawai‘i’s struggling fisheries could be getting some help. On Thursday, the Secretary of Commerce announced the allocation of $300 million in fisheries assistance funding provided by the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act). This funding is to states, tribes, and territories with coastal and marine fisheries who have been negatively affected by COVID–19.
(Kailua-Kona) – Kahalu‘u Bay on Hawai‘i Island is one of the most popular and heavily visited snorkeling locations in all of Hawai‘i. Hundreds of thousands of people come to view colorful fish and dazzling coral colonies every year, and like in many other over-used locations, the aquatic life in the bay is struggling to survive.
(Honolulu) – Hawaiian monk seals, green sea turtles and other marine animals that frequent our shores have largely had near-shore waters and beaches to themselves for the past six weeks. With today’s announcement of the reopening of select DLNR Division of State Parks units across the state, park managers and aquatic biologists are reminding people to be respectful of the places we share with Hawai‘i’s treasured marine creatures.
(Honolulu) – The DLNR Division of State Parks is re-opening select parks and monuments across the state with an emphasis on social distancing and exercise and continued restrictions on gatherings of any sort. The announcement is in line with Governor Ige’s emergency rules, as well as advice from the Hawai‘i Dept. of Health.
(Honolulu) – As major contributors to the Royal Hawaiian Groin Replacement Project held on to a ti leaf lei, Kahu Cordell Kekoa remarked, “Today, what we are doing is just enhancing what those have done before us. Part of what I want to do is we want to honor those who had come before us.”
(Kailua-Kona) – 35-year-old Jason Fujioka of Kea‘au was arrested on Saturday by officers from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) after a private company reported the theft of its 50-foot-long vessel Noa Noa.
(Honolulu) – Being out of work and out of school coupled with the barrage of COVID-19 crisis news can be particularly tough on families with children. The recovery of Makai Prejean’s bike by a trio of DOCARE officers yesterday could not have come at a better time.
(Honolulu) – The existing Royal Hawaiian groin was installed 93-years ago and for decades it protected one of the most popular stretches of beach in Waikīkī. The virtual shut-down of Hawai‘i’s visitor industry during the COVID-19 crisis is providing a rare silver-lining. Next week, the DLNR Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands (OCCL), in partnership with the Waikīkī Beach Special Improvement Association (WBSIDA), is kicking off work on a modern replacement groin, with construction work made much easier and safer without hundreds of visitors on the beach.