In the category of “eco-tourism,” the Hawai`i Tourism Authority has approved a $100,000 proposal to expand greatly the opportunities for fresh-water fishing on Kaua`i. The proposal, submitted by the Kaua`i Economic Development Board, would involve the introduction of large-mouth bass, rainbow trout, bluegill, and channel catfish.
Heading up the list of “individuals responsible for implementing the program/objective” is Kaua`i Land Board member Lynn McCrory, who is president and chief operating officer of PAHIO Resorts, Inc., a time-share firm based in Princeville. Four other individuals are listed — all of them in jobs supported with state funds. They are Wade Ishikawa, education specialist with the Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Aquatic Resources in Kaua`i; Ed Petteys, the Kaua`i district manager of the DLNR’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife; Debbie Chang, with the East & West Kaua`i Soil and Water Conservation Districts; and Guy Nagay, weed specialist with the state Department of Agriculture on Kaua`i. At another point, the proposal states that there is a group, which it calls “collaborators,” of “approximately 20 people who have been working since October 1988 on gathering information and laying out what you are reading.” None of these is mentioned by name or affiliation.
The project has drawn criticism from some state employees, including the chief biologist for the DAR on Kaua`i, Don Heacock. Heacock has been a strong advocate for stream restoration and sees this proposal as working against those efforts. In addition, Heacock is co-author of a recent study that concludes trout could jeopardize native Hawaiian aquatic species.
Yet Heacock’s boss, Bill Devick, defends the proposal. “There’s substantial potential for this kind of thing in the state, if handled properly,” he told Environment Hawai`i. “But there’s also a potential for problems if the wrong species are introduced.”
Devick noted that the species called out in the proposal are ones already introduced on Kaua`i and said they do not have any significant impact on stream environments. In any event, he said, the DLNR’s involvement would be limited to an “adjunct” role, “supplementing what is actually in the proposal,” he said.
Yet the list of individuals involved in the proposal does not mention any other than employees of state or state-financed agencies. A “Product Developent Proposal Budget” shows the total project cost to be $200,000, half of which is the cash contribution from HTA, with the remainder being in-kind contributions: $40,000 from the state (presumably in the form of labor of state employees); $5,000 from the County of Kaua`i; and $55,000 from unspecified private sources.
(However, in the column indicating county expenditures, there is no amount given at all, while in the column indicating “other” sources of funds, including presumably the private sources, the total of $100,000 apparently includes state, county, and private sources. There is no way to determine from this budget exactly what the private sources will be contributing or exactly in what area the in-kind contributions of the state, Kaua`i County, or private sources will be spent.)
The Status Quo
The state has already an established trout fishery on Kaua`i, at Koke`e State Park. The state supports it with imports of fingerlings from hatcheries in West Coast states.
The Division of Aquatic Resources has financially supported a study, proposed by Hawai`i Trout Unlimited and undertaken by Ron Englund of Bishop Museum, to assess the impact of the trout on native insects. Early results of the study, which involved examining stomach contents of 26 caught trout, suggest little interaction between the fish and native stream insects, writes Annette Tagawa of the DAR in her “Current Line” column of the August Hawai`i Fishing News. “In the samples, 485 identifiable food (prey) items were found,” writes Tagawa. “Out of the 485 items, 61 percent were terrestrial (living on the land and/or land vegetation) insects; 23 percent were introduced aquatic insects or animals and only 16 percent were native aquatic insects or animals. Out of the native aquatic food items, only one Kaua`i mountain damselfly was found.” (Tagawa does not mention how many of the 61 percent terrestrial insects were native; when asked for this information, she referred Environment Hawai`i to Englund, who was unavailable by press time.)
These results, Tagawa goes on to say, are “excellent news for the trout program. If the final analysis reflects the [early] results, this would open the opportunity to restock the streams once again” — they were last stocked in 1992 — and expand the trout program on Kaua`i, maybe even extending the fishing season to open year-round.” At present, fishing is limited to about 28 days total in the months of August and September. This year, the season has been cancelled because of fire concerns. (The portion of Koke`e park that includes most of the fishing area has been closed since early June because of dry conditions.)
But another study of the diet of trout on Kaua`i came to substantially different conclusions. The study, “Alien Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) (Salmoniformes: Salmonidae) Diet in Hawaiian Streams,” appears in a recent issue of the peer-reviewed journal Pacific Science. Authors Michael Kido, Don Heacock, and Adam Asquith conclude, “Based on results of the study, it is cautioned that large numbers of rainbow trout indiscriminately released into lower- to middle-elevation reaches of Hawaiian streams could do substantial damage to populations of native aquatic species through predation, competition, and/or habitat alteration.”
Fishing the Ditches
According to the HTA proposal, the freshwater fishery would be expanded to the plantation irrigation systems — reservoirs built and still owned by private companies. As discussed in the August issue of Environment Hawai`i, the state is considering taking over several of these systems, which, according to DAR chief Devick, would clear the way for the state to stock them with fish. So long as they are in the control of private parties and access is restricted, Devick said, “I don’t think there is any potential for the state to be operating a hatchery to supply fish for this activity.”
The HTA proposal cites as one of the “goals and objectives” “the continued maintenance of the water ditch systems [which] is crucial to supplying the reservoirs and to the continued growth of diversified agriculture to replace sugar. It is the intent to add dollars for this maintenance from the uses of the reservoirs.”
While the initial work will focus on Kaua`i, the proposal also takes note of two reservoirs on O`ahu and one on the island of Hawai`i that could be used for freshwater fishing.
Environmental Disclosure
The proposal is silent with respect to the need to comply with Chapter 343 of Hawai`i Revised Statutes. This chapter lists triggers for preparation of an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement, and the expanded freshwater fishing project would seem to pull one or more of those triggers. (They include use of state land and use of state funds.) Devick indicated he thought the project probably would require some environmental assessment, but he was not certain. No mention of preparation of an EA or EIS is made in the proposal itself.
In the section “marketing strategies and action plan,” the proposal states that community meetings will be held “to discover the opportunities for support and concerns that will need to be resolved from the following: general public; the fishing, ecotourism, and environmental associations; private land owners, farmers, ranchers and existing fishing tour operators.”
After that, the proposal states: “Secondly would be the revision of the existing DLNR Freshwater Fishing brochure to include the facilities and other information.”
In the section “Project Evaluation,” the proposal answers the question of how to evaluate the success of the program by stating it will hire a market researcher to explore promotion opportunities and will conduct a public hearing on changes in fishing rules to allow year-round trout fishing at Koke`e. “Third point will be the transfer of land which holds the reservoirs and hatchery from the Land Division to the Aquatics Division in DLNR. This will be followed by the management contract with a private enterprise(s) to manage the facilities.”
— Patricia Tummons
Volume 10, Number 3 September 1999
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