‘Dr. Bob’ Remembered: Professor Emeritus Robert A. Kinzie III passed away unexpectedly on December 31st, 2022, while he and his wife, Joy, were visiting their sons and grandchildren in Southern California.
Dr. Bob was a faculty member in the Zoology Department at the University of HawaiʻI from 1972 until 2009. His pioneering research contributed to our understanding of how coral reefs function and how they might respond to environmental perturbations. He was also a pioneer in the study of the population biology of amphidromous species in Pacific Island streams. After his retirement, he continued to apply his knowledge and wisdom to preserving fragile island ecosystems through environmental consulting.
Over nearly four decades, students eagerly enrolled in Dr. Bob’s Animal Ecology, Limnology, and Natural History of the Hawaiian Islands classes, labs, and seminars. Dr. Bob also taught in the Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology’s Edwin W. Pauley Summer Program in Marine Biology. He led the Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Graduate Program at UH for several years and served on the Hawaiʻi Natural Area Reserves System Commission.
Just as his research embraced the natural environment of Hawaiʻi, Dr. Bob respected and loved the culture of the islands. Readily identified by his signature long hair and beard, he was a Sensei at the Windward Aikido Club, active in the local Cross-Fit community, and a devoted supporter of sustainable farming. His reach was exemplified by the encouragement and enthusiasm he bestowed upon those around him. (Contributed by Scott R. Santos)
Kaʻu Hearing Delay: Six years ago Ann and Peter Bosted filed a complaint with the Public Utilities Commission, challenging the permits issued to more than two dozen solar installations in their Kaʻu neighborhood of Hawaiian Ocean View Estates. While nominally they are owned by 19 different limited liability companies, ownership of all of them trace back to the same Chinese company with headquarters in the Cayman Islands.
The case was beset with delays but the commission finally scheduled an evidentiary hearing for March 9. Then on February 17, the Bosteds asked for yet another delay. The couple, who had been representing themselves, had engaged legal help, Ryan Hurley and Bianca Isaki, who filed a motion seeking a one-month postponement. The Bosteds “have previously been acting pro se and thus their new counsel will need to fully review the record, amend appropriate exhibit and witness lists as well as prepare for the hearing, all of which will help in developing an accurate record,” the attorneys wrote in their memorandum supporting the request for postponement.
(Environment Hawaiʻi reported on this more extensively in our January 2023 edition.)
Coffee Berry Borer: Plans to release a tiny wasp, Phymasatichus coffea, are moving forward. Last month, the University of Hawaiʻi College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) published a final environmental assessment for the release of the insect that preys on the coffee berry borer (CBB).
According to the EA, host-specificity studies conducted at the USDA Forest Service facility at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park found that the wasp did not attack any native and beneficial beetles tested. “It is expected that P. coffea will become established as a classical biological control agent, providing sustained population suppression” of the coffee berry borer in Hawaiʻi.
In 2019, the state Department of Agriculture estimated crop losses due to the CBB amounted to $7.7 million.
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