(HONOLULU) – Marine debris, ingested by a 56-foot-long sperm whale, is believed to be at least a contributing cause to its death. The whale washed up on the reef fronting Lydgate Park on Kaua‘i Friday night. On Saturday, heavy equipment was used to get it onto the beach where researchers from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Health and Stranding Lab, spent 15-hours trying to find clues about its death. Their initial examination of the whale was limited because of its immense size.
Aquatic Resources
(HONOLULU) – Today, Hawaiʻi Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey P. Crabtree lifted an injunction in a case filed by opponents of commercial aquarium fishing, prohibiting the issuance or renewal of aquarium fish permits to commercial collectors pursuant to Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 188-31 in the West Hawai‘i Regional Fishery Management Area (WHRFMA). An injunction concerning the issuance or renewal of aquarium fish permits in the rest of the State of Hawaiʻi remains in effect.
(Maalaea, Maui) – A dozen or more times each season, humpback whales while on their principal breeding and calving grounds within the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary (sanctuary) or nearby waters get spotted entangled in fishing gear or marine debris. In the worst cases this material can kill the animal.
(HONOLULU) – The Waikīkī-Diamond Head Shoreline Fisheries Management Area (SFMA), O‘ahu, will be closed to fishing for one year, from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2023.
(WAILUKU) – Collaborative investigations by the Maui Police Department (MPD), and the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE), into last week’s disappearance of a 60-year-old Washington State woman off the south coast of Maui, classify the case differently but with the same basic conclusion.
(Waikoloa, Hawai‘i) – Shark warning signs are up at Hawai‘i Island’s ʻAnaehoʻomalu Bay, this morning, following an apparent encounter between a man in his mid-60’s and what has been reported as a 12-foot tiger shark.
(HONOLULU) - Today, the State Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) approved the adoption of Hawai‘i Administrative Rule (HAR) chapter 13-60.41 to prohibit the take of pāku‘iku‘i (Achilles Tang) within the West Hawai‘i Regional Fishery Management Area (WHRFMA) on Hawai‘i Island under adaptive management rulemaking authority. This is the first time that the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) has adopted rules under the new adaptive management authority, which allows the Department to approve temporary management measures in response to rapidly changing resource conditions.
(HONOLULU) – The State Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) has fined the owner of a vessel for damage to stony coral and or live/rock on Hawai‘i Island in 2021.
(Kihei, Maui) – The search for a missing 60-year-old Washington State woman was called off at noon today, after teams from the Maui Fire Dept., Maui Ocean Safety, and the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) failed to find her.
(HONOLULU) -- Just before noon today a person placed a call to 911 reporting a possible shark encounter about 50-yards from shore at Keawakapu Point in South Maui.