(Kaanapali, Maui) – A 73-year-old man from California, snorkeling off Airport Beach in front of the Maui Westin at Kaanapali, was bitten by a shark this morning. Fortunately, he suffered only minor lacerations in the encounter, which happened at about 7:20 a.m. There were no other snorkelers or swimmers in the immediate vicinity and the man swam back to shore on his own and called 9-1-1.
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(Honolulu) – A new beach maintenance project for Waikīkī Beach starts next week. The project is a collaboration between the DLNR Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands (OCCL) and the Waikīkī Beach Special Improvement District Association (WBSIDA).
(HONOLULU) – State botanist Susan Ching and her team spend their lives propagating, planting, and protecting Hawai‘i’s rarest plants. Today, Ching was sweeping up the mess left by vandals who broke into a DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) greenhouse at Waimano, likely on Friday night. The dirt all over the floor, the broken containers, and the gaping hole vandals cut to gain entry are fixable.
(HONOLULU) – The man behind the illegal “kanaka” garden at Wailoa River State Park in Hilo was arrested at Iolani Palace in Honolulu this morning. 64-year-old Gene Tamashiro of Hilo is charged with entering a closed State Park and violation of the State’s COVID-19 rules.
(HONOLULU) - Another holiday weekend mass gathering in a State Park has promoted further warnings to party organizers and participants. Saturday night, DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) officers broke up a gathering of an estimated 200 people at Kaiwi State Scenic Shoreline in east O’ahu. No one was arrested or cited as officers concentrated on getting people out of the park prior to a planned bonfire.
(HONOLULU) – Tyron and Kacie Terazono of Kealakekua have agreed to pay a large fine for the illegal harvest of aquarium fish, offshore of Kawaihae in Hawai‘i County, in February 2020. Acting on tips, officers from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) conducted a commercial fishing gear and catch inspection of the couple’s boat, Masako, when it returned to the Kawaihae Small Boat Harbor on Feb. 20, 2020. The inspection found 550 live tropical fish, of ten species, in the vessel’s hold, along with aquarium fishing gear, including a small mesh net.
(HONOLULU) – Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Crabtree ruled today that all commercial aquarium fishing is completely banned in the State of Hawaiʻi, unless and until the aquarium fishing industry has completed the Chapter 343 environmental review process. The ruling was made in response to a request by aquarium fishing opponents.
(HONOLULU) – The illegal burning of Christmas trees at Ahu O Laka (Kāne'ohe Bay sandbar) is not only a violation of State of Hawai‘i Administrative Rules (HAR), this year, it was exacerbated by non-compliance with COVID-19 mandates. Photos on social media sites show large numbers of people standing shoulder-to-shoulder without masks, as tree-fueled fires burn in the background.
(HILO) – Early this morning officers from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) stood watch as a crew from the DLNR Division of State Parks removed illegally planted taro and banana trees from the Wailoa River State Recreation Area.
(Kahului) - Sunday afternoon and nighttime beach parties with drum circles, nudity, illegal alcohol and other illicit substances, coupled with hundreds of mask-less people in close contact with one another, has prompted the immediate closure of the Pu’u Ola’i beach, the smaller of two beaches located in Makena State Park on Maui.