Blog
News, updates, finds, stories, and tidbits from staff and community members at KAHEA. Got something to share? Email us at: kahea-alliance@hawaii.rr.com.
Greed for Feed: Connecting the Dots
Today, Hawai’i is looking at a proposed new offshore ahi tuna farm–the very first ever to be approved for waters under U.S. jurisdiction. Of course, to raise fish that eat fish (carnivorous fish), you need… fish. Fish like anchovies, generally taken from fisheries around the global south, particularly Central and South America.
The fact that a significant amount of the fish caught on this planet goes to make fish meal (for feeding fish and other farmed livestock) is a growing concern for world health and food security (Global and Regional Food Consumption Patterns and Trends, World Health Organization, Section 3.5).
The 247-acre operation proposed for Hawai’i, to be run by Hawaii Ocean Technology, Inc., will require 12,000 tons of fish feed annually, at full operation (according to its own EIS, prepared by Tetratech).
This short movie–”The Greed for Feed”–is testament to some of the impacts that fish feed harvesting has had on coastal Peruvian communities.
When we talk about aquaculture and “food security” in Hawai’i… is this what we mean?
NRC admonishes U.S. Army for DU Monitoring Plan
Now that the U.S. Army has admitted to the presence of depleted uranium at its Hawaiʻi live fire training ares, the Army has applied to the NRC for a permit to possess DU at Pohakuloa Training Area. If granted, the permit would allow remains of depleted uranium spotter rounds from the Army’s cold-war-era Davy Crockett nuclear howitzer on site at the training area. The army had denied the presence of depleted uranium in Hawaiʻi until a citizen’s group unearthed an e-mail about their discovery in 2006.
Last week, the Big Island Weekly reported on the NRC’s findings on the U.S. Army’s monitoring plan–a plan intended to detect potential impacts from so-called “fugitive dust”:
The U.S. Army’s plan to monitor the air over Pohakuloa Training Area for depleted uranium has drawn sharp criticism from some Native Hawaiians, environmentalists, activists and independent experts. Now the Army has gotten an admonishment from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
“We have concluded that the Plan will provide inconclusive results for the U.S. Army as to the potential impact of the dispersal of depleted uranium (DU) while the Pohakuloa Training Area is being utilized for aerial bombardment or other training exercises,” wrote Rebecca Tadesse, Chief of the NRC’s Materials Decommissioning Branch, in a recent letter to Lt. General Rick Lynch, who heads the Army’s Installation Management Command.
See full Article: “NRC to Army: DU monitoring plan won’t work“
May = MAMo
…and MAMo is Maoli Arts Month!
Support Native Hawaiian artists and cultural practioners, check out the event calendar at http://maoliartsmonth.org/?q=node/20
Also, Doris Duke theater at the Honolulu Academy of Arts is sponsoring first “indigenous Hawaiian film festival” this month. Runs from May 1 – May 26, including the premiere of Mālama Hāloa, film by Na Maka O Ka Aina.
See schedule at: http://www.honoluluacademy.org/cmshaa/academy/index.aspx?id=2402
Leg 2010: Post-Mortem
From Marti:
This legislative session didn’t turn out to be as bad as it could have been for our natural and cultural resources. By mid-session this year, there were proposals to drastically weaken our EIS law, transfer 54% of the Division of Aquatic Resources to HIMB for groundskeepers (really, Dr. Leong? You know, City Mill has a sale on lawnmowers), and grant corporations extended leases to exploit our ocean. Thanks to the advocacy of so many, none of these proposals passed.
Not only that, legislators did manage to pass some good bills (in addition to HB 444). Sitting on the Governor’s desk for approval right now are laws that make it a felony to intentionally kill Hawaiian monk seals, require solar water heaters on new homes, and prevent beachfront landowners from using naupaka to block public access to and along the shoreline. It’s about time! Thanks also to your efforts, an audit will happening for Mauna Kea–albeit a self-audit. And while we still believe a self-audit is really no kind of audit at all, we do see it as a step in the right direction by the legislature. A very small, very weak and very tentative step, but a step nonetheless.
Mahalo to all those whose late nights, phone calls, petition gathering, and committed advocacy helped keep this 2010 legislative session from going off the rails.
Self-audit = No kind of audit at all
University of Hawai'i administration dodges a public audit. What does it take to get some independent oversight around here?
State finally getting it right for Northwestern Hawaiian Islands... -ish.
Last week, the Board of Land and Natural Resources held a special meeting to consider several permit applications from HIMB researchers for activities in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Papahānaumokuākea. After several years of public testimony at every permit hearing — and even finally, a lawsuit! – the Land Board and its staff finally admitted: a cumulative impact assessment IS needed to understand the affects of harmful human activity on this extremely fragile place BEFORE permits are issued to allow prohibited activities. Hallelujah!
Unfortunately, knowing you were wrong and getting it right are not the same thing.
At the meeting, staff gave a very technical presentation about past permitted activities, how they are documented, and what the likely affects are. Then representatives from the applicants — Hawai’i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) — testified to studies they have conducted on themselves to assess the impact they are (not) having on the environment. These are good and noble acts that should be continued, but do not get at the heart of the issue over the issuance of permits for taking species, dumping waste water, anchoring, constructing, and dredging activities in the largest NO-TAKE marine reserve in Hawai’i. These activities have the potential to harm the very thing that is trying to be studied (and ostensibly saved). Yet? Still no cumulative impact assessment. Still no environmental assessment.
The researchers and the staff obviously have some information about the impacts of human activities in the NWHI. Why not put that together into an environmental impact statement and release it for public comment?
Permits are required because the activities requested are prohibited. Permission is to be given for prohibited activities when they are necessary for conservation, management and cultural perpetuation. This is at the heart of a “permit” system.
The issue: We are supposed to have a public process to evaluate what activities are really needed, and balance them against the cumulative impacts. How can we do this without the legally required environmental assessment (EA)? Or for that matter, without a public process?
All the while granting of permits continues to be driven by availability of grant/Federal dollars, rather than the actual need for the activity.
Today, decisions for the Monument are being made in the dark–and it shows. We continue to ask: open up the Monument to transparent, accountable decision making for this public trust. Hold public meetings of the Monument Management Board, where permitting decisions can be made in the light of day. Really, what is there to hide?
Reading: Edible Hawaiian Islands
This issue of Edible Hawaiian Islands is devoted to fish, fishing, and fisheries. How fish gets from the sea to your plate, and everything in between.
Some interesting ideas on the future for “sustainable” fisheries by Jon Letman, and on raising fish “Loko” style by Rob Parsons.
We’re liking: Rob’s interview with Michael Kumuhauoha Lee, of the ‘Ewa Beach Limu Restoration Project–
Lee believes that modern Western aquaculture systems run into difficulties by trying to maximize dollar output, and by not looking at how true natural resource systems of abundance are created. “It is the Hawaiian belief,” says Lee, “that everything is a living being. The outer fishpond rock walls are like the skin–they are porous and allow zoo-plankton to pass through. Plankton and algae are among the most basic life forms.
“The fresh-water springs are like a circulatory system,” says Lee. “It is essential to set up a diverse biosphere, and to plant and seed the limu to attract the fish into the pond. Don’t disregard the vitality of the elemental systems, the safeguards and the knowledge that is already here.”
