News
April 26, 2009
The Honolulu Advertiser today launched a year-long series called “Man, Land, and Sea.” This is a great effort to continue the momentum built from the Hawai’i International Year of the Reef campaign. Here’s one of the first articles by Rob Perez.
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090426/NEWS01/904260390/-1
Hawaii reefs showing strain of overuse, lack of protection
Critics say state lacking in protection of marine ecosystem
Ask Billy Blankenfeld, 72, about his childhood memories of Maunalua Bay, and he talks about a lush undersea world full of fish and crab.“When I was young, the reefs were vibrant,” said Blankenfeld, a fisherman who has lived along the bay his entire life. Ask Buzzy Agard, 85, about his long-ago memories of O’ahu’s shoreline, and he also speaks of an environment of abundance. The near-shore waters, he recalls, were thriving with a diversity of fish and corals.Today, the picture is far different.
“It’s just like you’re on another planet,” said Agard, who for several decades fished and dove the waters off O’ahu. “It’s like the moon. There’s nothing there.”
While the reefs around the main Hawaiian islands still are considered relatively healthy by some scientists, thanks mainly to the state’s geographic isolation, conditions have declined substantially in recent decades. The degradation has been so dramatic in some spots off heavily developed sections of O’ahu and Maui that much of the coral has died and the fish stock is largely wiped out.
And scientists are predicting a continued, accelerating decline, mirroring what’s happening globally, if major steps aren’t taken to reverse the trend.
“The amount of damage already done on our coastal resources has been stunning,” said Bob Richmond, a University of Hawai’i marine biologist.
Scientists blame mostly human behavior, stretching back decades, when scant attention was paid to protecting the environment and less was known about the harms being done. Years of overfishing, pollution, sediment runoff, the spread of invasive algae, recreational overuse and other people-related activities have taken a heavy toll on Hawai’i’s reefs, though some scientists believe the impact has been overstated.
And the state government, the steward for Hawai’i’s near-shore waters, has done a poor job of protecting such a vital natural resource, one that serves as the foundation for a marine ecosystem critical to the state’s No. 1 tourism industry, critics say.
Decades of government inaction, underfunding and poor or piecemeal public policy have contributed to a steady deterioration of the reefs and related fisheries.
Part of the problem is that the state has to balance what the science calls for with the varied interests of its many ocean users. Achieving that balance historically has been complicated by cultural factors, the importance of Hawai’i’s fishing traditions and a relatively lax approach to marine enforcement.
Coral decline
“All is not lost, but we can’t get complacent,” said Alan Friedlander, a UH scientist with expertise in fisheries and corals. “Now is when we really need to press these issues. It’s a lot easier to protect stuff than to fix stuff when it’s broken.”Without effective regulatory oversight, fish have been taken from Hawai’i’s near-shore waters at a pace not sustainable for healthy reefs. Too much sediment, pollutants and other reef-harming materials also have flowed into the ocean in many places, mainly because the Islands’ natural, land-based filtering systems (such as wetlands) have been destroyed, altered or paved over. Fast-growing invasive algae, often brought to Hawai’i by accident or design, likewise have established footholds in many spots, choking off and overtaking wide swaths of coral.While some decline is attributed to natural causes, especially the periodic beatings the reefs take from hurricanes and powerful surf, the bulk of the destruction is traced to fallout from human behavior, many scientists say. By some measures, the decline has been significant.
In one ongoing study of coral cover around the main Hawaiian islands, 19 of 27 sites that have been monitored for at least 10 years have experienced coral decreases, some exceeding 75 percent. At two sites in Maui’s Honolua Bay, for instance, coral cover since 1974 has plunged nearly 80 percent.
In a 2005 article in the journal Science, a group of marine scientists, led by University of Queensland professor John Pandolfi, concluded that the reefs around the main islands are roughly 60 percent on their way to ecologic extinction and are more degraded than those in the Red Sea, Belize, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.
“I think Hawai’i, like most places in the tropics, has a relatively narrow window for taking action,” Pandolfi said in an e-mail interview from Australia.
State inaction
Given some of the policies and practices in Hawai’i, it’s not difficult to see why the health of the reefs is slipping and why the fish population — a key barometer of a reef’s vibrancy — is estimated by some scientists to be only one quarter of what it was 100 years ago.Among other things, the state:Sets aside a far smaller percentage of its coastal waters as marine protected areas than many other island communities, even though such added protections, if done smartly, have proven effective for restoring and maintaining the health of fisheries and the reef ecosystem. Guam, for example, has designated 20 percent of its coastal waters as no-take zones, the most stringent type of protected area. People are not allowed to take any fish from those areas, giving marine life a chance to thrive free of overfishing pressures. Along the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, more than a third of the waters are no-take zones. In Hawai’i, not even 1 percent is designated no-take. Lags behind many other Pacific communities by still allowing scuba spearfishing and, with some exceptions, use of lay gill nets, both considered harmful to marine ecosystems.
Has no size limits or minimum ones for catching and keeping some popular fish, which hurts those species’ ability to replenish their stock. Some reef-grazing species critical to preventing seaweed from overtaking corals can be caught before reaching the size of sexual maturity.
Does not require recreational saltwater fishing to be licensed, one of only a few coastal states without such a requirement. That means the state has no system for accurately collecting data on the total catch recreational fishing takes from the sea each year, handicapping efforts to manage a dwindling resource.
Continues to use a failed policy of closing nearshore fishing in alternating years from the Waikiki Natatorium to roughly the Diamond Head Lighthouse. The policy persists even though fish biomass along that coastline has plunged by about two-thirds since the rotational closures started in 1978, according to a 2006 study by four Hawai’i researchers.
Spends a smaller percentage of its overall budget on its natural resources than the majority of other states, including Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi. According to an analysis of 2006 data from the most recent edition of Book of the States, Hawai’i’s natural resource spending ratio ranked No. 31 among the 50 states. Given how critical the environment is to the state’s economy, many conservationists believe Hawai’i should rank at or near the top of that list.
The lack of resources and a patchwork system of oversight by multiple agencies results in ineffective enforcement, inefficiencies, inordinate influence by special-interest groups and inadequate protection of the marine ecosystem, according to scientists, environmentalists, fishers and other ocean users.
Policy factors
A loss of traditional, subsistence-based values and a general skepticism among ocean users whenever new restrictions are proposed have added to the dysfunction of the system, some say.“Generally, I think we’ve done a poor job,” said Rick Gaffney, a longtime ocean advocate who has run various marine-related businesses in Hawai’i. “The state’s financial commitment to the ocean has been pathetic.”Despite the funding limitations, state officials say changes have been made in recent years to more effectively address the threats facing the reefs and fisheries. But more needs to be done, they agreed, including developing a more comprehensive, coordinated approach among the multiple agencies. “Obviously, the status quo is not an option,” said Dan Polhemus, administrator of the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ division of aquatic resources.
Polhemus and others noted that the agency is working on developing more marine management areas, looking into changes to fish-size limits, forging partnerships with other organizations and taking other action in line with the department’s top priority of resource protection.
But change historically has come slow, particularly given the divisiveness created by previous proposals to restrict access to Hawai’i’s marine resources. Often, the battles are couched in cultural terms, adding to the intensity.
When a bill was introduced at the Legislature several years ago to set aside 20 percent of coastal waters as no-take zones, pro-fishing and conservation interests clashed — and nothing passed.
“Both sides essentially beat themselves bloody,” Polhemus recalled.
The case of the parrotfish illustrates the dilemma the state faces. For years, the state has allowed fishers to keep various types of parrotfish as long as the fish are 12 inches long. Yet two of those types, uliuli and palukaluka, both particularly important as seaweed grazers, typically don’t become sexually mature and reproduce until they hit 14 inches.
If the state raises the keeper limit to 14 inches, that would drastically affect the recreational fishers who target parrotfish because the other species generally grow smaller. Also, the change could backfire by putting more pressure on the very two parrotfish species most important to the reef.
Many fishers already feel picked on as it is.
They say the reef ecosystem is declining for many reasons, yet the state tries to impose measures that disproportionately penalize fishing, leaving little room for compromise.
“So far, it’s all one way — their way,” said Rolando Galacgac, president of the Atlapac Fishing Club on O’ahu.
No-take zones
Despite the challenges, there have been success stories, often driven by community members taking ownership of a problem.When tempers flared between tour boat operators and aquarium fish collectors along the Big Island’s Kona Coast in the 1980s, residents became more involved and a consensus eventually was reached to set aside about a third of the waters as no-take zones for aquarium fish. Since then, the number of aquarium fish collectors and the total catch of yellow tang — the most popular fish targeted by the collectors — has roughly doubled. The aquarium fish business has become a substantial fishery in the state.But the value of a healthy reef extends far beyond the fishing industry. The reefs are home to multiple species found only in Hawai’i. And researchers have estimated that the nearshore reefs generate more than $800 million annually through tourism, ocean recreation and other marine activities. As the reefs degrade, their value as a fish habitat, recreational resource and cultural resource degrades as well.
Not all scientists, however, are sounding alarm bells.
Rick Grigg, a UH professor emeritus in oceanography, said most damage to Hawai’i’s reefs is natural, from waves and storms, that the outer reefs are “healthy as a horse” and that talk of gloom and doom by some of his colleagues is overstated to garner headlines, grants and publications in journals.
“All this violin playing about the reefs dying is just eco-terrorism,” Grigg said.
Then there are scientists like Paul Jokiel, a researcher at the Hawai’i Institute of Marine Biology. He worries about long-term trends, such as global warming and the increasing acidification of the ocean.
If little is done globally to counter those trends, the reefs are doomed, conceivably before the end of the century, and addressing overfishing, sediment runoff, invasive species and the like will hardly matter, Jokiel said.
“Those aren’t the main threats,” he said. “You’re just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”
August 23, 2008
Bad Neighbors Wins Film Festival Award
International Year of the Reef - Hawai`i campaign’s public service announcement, “Bad Neighbors,” wins first place at the Hawai`i Ocean Film Festival in the “marine resources short” category. The 30 second piece, created by Shooters Productions and Montaj9 as a community service, will be aired at the film festival held at beautiful Hanalei Bay in Kaua`i on August 23.
July 28, 2008
June 3, 2008Fashion designer Sig Zane of Hilo and three-time Grammy winner Daniel Ho partnered to create a new song and fabric (Kai Palaoa) in celebration of the International Year of the Reef. Here is a shot taken in Washington DC in June at Capitol Hill Oceans Week, with Daniel Ho and Naomi McIntosh of NOAA’s Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary wearing Sig Zane’s new design.
May 9, 2008Staff from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the state Division of Aquatic Resources, Mālama Hawai‘i and The Nature Conservancy helped select artwork for an upcoming calendar and art exhibit at the Parents and Children Together office in Kalihi.
Emma Anders, statewide IYOR coordinator, looks through some of the hundreds of submissions.
This anime-inspired drawing by an eighth grader was selected to be displayed in an upcoming exhibit.
Pauline Sato of Mālama Hawai‘i looks through the artwork of some first- and second-graders.
May 6, 2008More than 60 people, many of them concerned residents, turned out for a community meeting last night to learn about a new watershed study in Maunalua Bay.
Laura Thompson, longtime Niu Valley resident, was one of the more than 60 people who attended last night’s meeting at the Hawai‘i Kai Public Library.
April 9, 2008The state Department of Land and Natural Resources put in place a temporary closure effective April 14 for the bottomfishing in state waters in the main Hawaiian islands. All fishing for any of the seven Hawai‘i restricted bottomfish species — which include ehu, gindai, kalekale, lehi, onaga, opakapaka and hapuupuu — will be prohibited during this closed season.
This declaration was made following a determination from commercial landings data that the current fishing season’s total allowable catch of 178,000 pounds had been reached in mid-March.
The total allowable catch represents the scientific measure intended to stop excess fishing effort of bottomfish species, specifically seven snapper and grouper species referred to as the “Deep 7.”
The closure will be in effect through at least Aug. 31 and will complement a federal bottomfishing closure that will take effect April 16 in all federal marine waters (from three nautical miles and seaward) in the main Hawaiian islands.
“Since 2005, bottomfish in the main Hawaiian islands have been declared to be in a state of overfishing. If the federal total allowable catch were to be exceeded, this could have adverse consequences on Hawai’i’s fishery in the future,” said Laura H. Thielen, DLNR chairperson, in a news release.
Maps of closed state marine waters to bottomfishing (seasonal closure and bottomfish restricted fishing areas) will be available on the DLNR website from the effective date, April 14. Go to the website at http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/dar.
Read two stories in The Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin about this topic.
IYOR PSA coming soon
April 7, 2008
Mālama Hawai‘i, with funding from the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, support from the state Division of Aquatic Resources and The Nature Conservancy, and generous pro-bono work from producers, camera crew, costume and prop designers, editors, homeowner hosts and actors produced a high-quality public service announcement for the International Year of the Reef Hawai’i campaign.
Its broadcast is scheduled sometime this month.
The shoot was completed on Monday, April 7, with about a dozen actors and another dozen crewmembers. Shooters Film Production Inc. and Montaj 9 Ltd. took the lead on the project. The reef costumes were created in large part by ‘Ohi’a Productions and Diamond Head Theatre. Mahalo nui loa to all involved in creating and completing this unforgettable project!
Here are photos from the shoot, which took place at a home on Paiko Drive:
Shooting the opening scene outside the house.
Dave Rosen, middle, directed the shoot.
One actor wore a reef helmet — complete with fish — made by Mālama Hawai‘i’s Pauline Sato and Janice Staab.
Our monk seal, Raymond.
Mike Lameier as the large octopus.
Shooting the dinner scene.
The lobster taking a reading break.
The cutest actor by far: Hanna.
Outside the beautiful home we used on Paiko Drive.
Shooting the PSA’s closure: a hilarious scene in the outdoor hot tub.
March 31, 2008
Efforts to restore and preserve Maunalua Bay was highlighted in a recent story by Helen Altonn in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. (Read story here.)”Saving Maunalua Bay” focused on a collaboration of scientists, resource managers, government agencies and private organizations that work with Mālama Maunalua, a community-based group trying to conserve and restore the bay, which is used by the region’s 60,000 residents.Hundreds turn out for official launch eventMore than 200 people, including lawmakers and school children, attended the official launch of the International Year of the Reef — Hawai’i on Friday, Jan. 25 at the State Capitol.
They walked through educational displays and exhibits by about 30 different organizations and government agencies, all sharing messages of reef and ocean conservation. The booths filled the entire concourse of the fourth floor.
Attendees learned about corals, native limu (seaweed), composting and community-based enforcement programs. They also dined on deep-fried ta‘ape (blue-striped snapper) and gorilla ogo — both invasive species in Hawaiian waters.
Dozens packed into one of the conference rooms to hear guest speaker Nainoa Thompson, famed navigator and executive director of the 
Polynesian Voyaging Society, talk about his experiencing growing up at Maunalua Bay and how the state can step up to protect and preserve the reefs and their important ecosystems.
Gov. Linda Lingle signed a proclamation declaring 2008 International Year of the Reef. Keith Rollman, a representative from Mayor Mufi Hannemann’s office, presented the city’s proclamation.
The event was organized by the state’s Division of Aquatic Resources, Mālama Hawai‘i and The Nature Conservancy, in partnership with the Coral Reef Outreach Network.
February is Humpback Whale Awareness Month
Feb. 1, 2008
Gov. Linda Lingle and Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona signed a proclamation declaring February as Humpback Whale Awareness Month.
The goal is to enhance public awareness of Hawai’i’s official state marine mammal and increase public involvement in ocean stewardship.This proclamation comes less than a month after Lingle signed one for International Year of the Reef.
Hawai‘i is home to the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, the only marine protected area in the nation soley devoted to humpback whale protection.
“I invite the public to enjoy the sanctuary’s Humpback Whale Awareness Month activities and celebrate the homecoming of our amazing humpbacks,” Lingle said in a news release.
The sanctuary is celebrating Humpback Whale Awareness Month by offering a variety of special activities around the state. Activities vary from lunchtime whale watches to special lecture presentations at various venues. Find out more by visiting www.humpbackwhale.noaa.gov.
The Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary is co-managed as a federal-state partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Here are some facts about humpback whales:
- There are an estimated 35,000 humpback whales in the world. Hawai’i is the only state in the U.S. where as many as 10,000 humpback whales return every winter, calve and nurse their young.
- Whales are air-breathing mammals, which, at full size, can be more than 45 feet in length and can weigh nearly 45 tons.
- The humpback whale is Hawai’i’s official state marine mammal, known as kohola in Hawaiian. They are considered a representation of the Native Hawaiian god of the ocean, Kanaloa.
- Humpback whale-watching generates more than $30 million in visitor industry revenues annually.
- Covering a range of eight octaves, the whale’s song are highly structured and have been found to use repeated themes and even rhyme. These songs are used for navigation, communication and social interaction.
- “It’s the Year of the Reef” by Lynda Arakawa, The Honolulu Advertiser, Jan. 24, 2008
- “Hawaii’s Coral Reefs Forefront of Celebration,” KGMB 9, Jan. 25, 2008<
- “Renewed Interest to Restore Islands’ Coral Reefs,” KHNL News 8, Jan. 25, 2008
- “2008: International Year of the Reef” by Kayla Rosenfeld, Hawai’i Public Radio, Jan. 28, 2008
- “Year of the Reef Campaign Begins” KITV News 4, Jan. 31, 2008
- “Protecting reef is in our interest,” editorial, The Honolulu Advertiser, Jan. 26, 2008
