HONOLULU -- The Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) voted on May 11, 2018 to approve administrative fines against Henry K. Pomroy, Bill A. Fujimoto, and Ho‘okupu Fish Company, LLC, regarding instances of illegal commercial lava boat tours on Hawai‘i Island. Pomroy was issued a criminal citation for violation of Hawai‘i Administrative Rules, but the Hawai‘i County Prosecuting Attorney's Office dismissed the criminal citation, leading the DLNR Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) to bring a civil enforcement action to the BLNR. A contested case hearing was held on the enforcement action and BLNR voted to adopt the Hearing Officer's findings of fact, conclusions of law and decision and order.
DOCARE
(HILO) – Earlier this week, four Hawai‘i County men received cease and desist orders from DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) officers for lava rock removal. The men all admitted their roles in the unlawful removal of tons of lava rock from the Mauna Loa Forest Reserve.
(HILO) – Tahitian prawns, caught in Hawai‘i streams, are a popular treat at graduation and other spring-time parties and get-togethers. The DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) is encouraging people to know the source of their prawns. Evidence has suggested that poisons used to kill garden and household pests has been used not only to kill prawns, but is wiping out all of the aquatic wildlife in some east Hawai‘i streams.
(LIHUE) – Officers from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) arrested 32-year-old Bronson Nakaahiki of Kekaha, Kaua‘i today after witnesses reported seeing him allegedly slice a threatened Green sea turtle’s throat and then harvest meat from it on Kekaha Beach.
(HILO) – Officers from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) are seeking information about the person or persons who butchered a 250-pound green sea turtle at Onekahakaha County Beach Park in South Hilo. A DOCARE officer estimates the turtle’s shell as at least 80 centimeters in size. Officers report that the turtle’s front two flippers were amputated and it appeared the suspect(s) was interrupted and left the scene without the turtle.
(HONOLULU) – A simultaneous removal of illegal camps on DLNR Division of State Parks land and enforcement of the Stored Property Ordinance by the City and County of Honolulu Dept. of Facility Maintenance on land under the control of the Department of Parks and Recreation started at 8 a.m. today. 26 camps were removed at the Diamond Head State Monument on the mauka-side of Diamond Head Road. The city focused on the removal of camps on the makai-side of the road, but does not yet have an estimate on the amount of material removed.
(HONOLULU) – Had it been something other than a sharp fishing knife perhaps the video would have been endearing? A Hawaiian monk seal pup named Manu‘iwa recently weaned from its mother on a Hawai‘i Island beach. Staff from Ke Kai Ola, a hospital operated by The Marine Mammal Center at Kailua-Kona and officers from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) have been monitoring the pup’s health and growth.
(KAHULUI, MAUI) – The ‘Ahihi-Kina’u Natural Area Reserve (NAR) on Maui’s south shore will remain closed at least until Monday, April 23, 2018 due to the continued presence of sharks in the popular snorkeling destination. The NAR has been closed for two weeks, after numerous tiger sharks were spotted, apparently coming close to shore to follow pupping reef sharks.
(HONOLULU) – Two men received citations from DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) officers on March 30th at Kahana Bay on O‘ahu’s windward coast.
(Lihue) - Two dozen officers from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE), the Kaua‘i Police Dept., and State Sheriffs removed a total of five people from two parcels of DLNR land this morning. . In the week’s leading up to today’s operation the squatters were offered services to help them find permanent housing, but they declined.