It has been more than a year since the Big Island Dairy in Oʻokala, along the Hamakua Coast of the Big Island, shut down. The closure followed a series of disastrous spills of manure into streams that outraged residents and … Continued
Last month, the Hawai‘i County Leeward Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the application of Kupunakane Ranch, LLC, dba Puakea Ranch, to run a hotel on 14.9 acres of land in the state Agricultural District in North Kohala. Plans call … Continued
On October 16, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that a draft recovery plan for the Main Hawaiian Islands insular population of false killer whales had been prepared and was open for public comment. The insular population, numbering 167 individuals, … Continued
At the virtual meeting last month of the False Killer Whale Take Reduction Team (TRT), it became clear, early on, that agreement on substantive recom- mendations the group is tasked with making to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) would be difficult, if … Continued
More than three years ago, the Hawai‘i Supreme Court issued its ruling in a case that many observers thought would halt commercial aquarium fish collection, at least for a time. The high court determined in Umberger v. Dep’t of Land and Natural Res. that … Continued
Last May, the Board of Land and Natural Resources refused to accept an environmental impact statement that had been prepared by a private group seeking to reopen much of the west coast of Hawai‘i island to commercial aquarium fish collectors. In … Continued
Some 17 years ago, Leon Hallacher and Brian Tissot undertook to assess the impact of aquarium fish collectors on the population of reef fish along the Kona coast of the Big Island. To collect the data needed, undergraduates were trained to identify the … Continued
A Loss for American Samoa: The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a lower court decision, effectively giving longline fishing vessels the right to fish as close as 12 miles from the territory’s coast. The decision is a blow to … Continued
Danny Julkowski threw himself on the mercy of the Leeward Planning Commission of Hawai‘i County last month. And as sympathetic as the commissioners were to his plight, their mercy was more limited. Julkowski was asking the commissioners to recommend that the … Continued
In July and August, both the Leeward and Windward Planning Commissions of Hawaiʻi County approved a recommendation that the County Council change the county’s zoning ordinance and county code to allow for a range of activities at the county’s two … Continued