(HONOLULU) – Open hearings will be conducted by the Division of Aquatics (DAR) on the proposed adoption of Hawaiʻi Administrative Rules (HAR) Chapter 13-78, establishing provisions for the Ocean Stewardship User Fee. The proposed new chapter will implement §187A-52, Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes, which requires all operators of commercial vessels, watercraft, or water sports equipment, that are required to have a commercial operator permit or commercial use permit pursuant to HAR §13-256-3, to collect a $1 ocean stewardship user fee from each passenger carried or customer served, and to transfer these fees to DLNR.
Aquatic Resources
(HONOLULU) – This morning, at the 30th Annual Hawaiʻi Conservation Conference on Oʻahu, DLNR’s Edward “Luna” Kekoa received the 2023 Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance Outstanding Leadership Award for his contributions to community-based natural resource management and conservation in the state.
(KAILUA-KONA, HAWAI‘I ISLAND) – Sixty-pound cinder blocks placed in the ocean for a Hawai‘i Island canoe regatta last weekend caused a range of damage from minimal-to-significant to approximately 100 coral colonies in Kailua Bay.
(KAILUA-KONA, HAWAI‘I ISLAND) – The Founders Regatta hosted by the Keauhou Canoe Club was placed on temporary hold today, after the discovery of course markers on the coral reef which may have caused significant damage.
(HONOLULU) – Six, pyramid-shaped coral colonies are now growing on the rock a few feet below the surface at Hanauma Bay. The corals were grown at the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources’ (DAR) Coral Restoration Nursery on Sand Island for the very purpose of restoring colonies damaged by natural or human caused events.
(WAIKOLOA, HAWAI‘I) – The DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) took down shark warning signs on Monday at ʻAnaehoʻomalu Bay on Hawai‘i Island, following an apparent encounter over the weekend.
(HONOLULU) – Insidious is the best way to describe Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD). First discovered off the coast of Florida in 2014, it has now spread along the entire coast of the Sunshine State and has been detected in 23 countries and territories in the Greater Caribbean Basin. This disease kills coral tissue at a rate of 1 to 2 inches per day, which quickly kills the coral, and can affect more than 30 different species of coral.
(HONOLUA BAY, MAUI) – A post-grounding damage assessment conducted by divers from the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR), found that the yacht Nakoa caused damage to corals and reef live rock covering at least 19,434-square-feet.
(HONOLUA BAY, MAUI) – A yacht, fast aground just outside the Honolua-Mokulē'ia Marine Life Conservation District, was pulled off the nearshore rocks around 1 p.m. today.
(HONOLUA BAY, MAUI) – It’s likely to be another few days before the 94-foot-long luxury yacht Nakoa is freed from the rocks and reef at Honolua Bay in northwest Maui.