(Honolulu) - In a 7-0 decision Friday, the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) voted to reject an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for proposed aquarium fishing in West Hawaiʻi. The over 2000-page EIS had been produced by a group of ten West Hawaiʻi aquarium fishers and the National Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, on their proposal to ask the DLNR to issue permits to the ten aquarium fishers. The proposed permits themselves were not before the BLNR for decision.
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(Honolulu) – All of the O‘ahu Offshore Island State Seabird Sanctuaries, normally listed as open for restricted access, remain closed until further notice and are not covered by Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s opening of beaches. Those islands are Mokuauia, Popoia, Kapapa, and the Mokulua Islands.
(Honolulu) – Sacred Falls State Park has been closed 21-years, after a Mother’s Day 1999 rockslide killed eight people and seriously hurt dozens of others. In spite of hundreds of trespassers getting citations for entering a closed area since then, continued rockfalls and landslides in the park, and numerous encouragements for people to stay out, they continue to come.
(Līhue) – Kaua‘i hunters are invited to apply for Special Use Permits that allow for some additional days of the week to hunt goats, pigs and deer in all existing hunting Units EXCEPT Units A, B and L. Many hunting areas on Kaua‘i are open on weekends (Friday-Monday) only. Beginning Monday May 18, 2020 licensed hunters may hunt more days of the week by submitting an online application at www.KauaiForestUsers.com. Permits will be processed several times a week; not every day due to a lack of staff.
(Honolulu) – The reconstruction of the existing, 93-year-old Royal Hawaiian Groin in Waikīkī and the construction of a new $1.5 million replacement begins next week.
(Honolulu) – In order to provide the DLNR and the Board of Land and Natural Resources relevant information, including community input, into whether Mauna Kea is being effectively managed, the department is launching an independent evaluation of the University of Hawai‘i’s (UH) compliance with the Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP).
(Kailua-Kona) – A citizen reported a large gathering of people and cars at Alula Beach (near Honokohau Small Boat Harbor) to the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) early Wednesday afternoon. DOCARE officers responded to the beach and observed numerous people not engaging in permitted activity outlined in the State’s current emergency rules.
(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.