Tour Operator is Fined $70K For Damage To Historic Wharf, Conservation District Simon Velaj didn’t seem to think it was that big of a deal. In late June, without permits of any kind, he had taken a backhoe to features … Continued
In the months after President Obama expanded the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, catches by commercial longliners didn’t seem to suffer at all. The deep-set longline fleet caught about the same amount of bigeye tuna as it had in the first … Continued
Things are looking up for the Hawai‘i deep-set longline fleet, and not just because a new stock assessment for bigeye tuna in the Western and Central Pacific suggests that it is neither overfished nor subject to overfishing. This past summer, … Continued
The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Wespac) is moving to lift measures, in place for more than a decade, that require the Hawai‘i shallow-set longline fleet, which targets swordfish, to stop fishing if it hits its annual limit of loggerhead … Continued
Kaua‘i Council Moves to Remove Some Exemptions From Shoreline Ordinance On October 18, the Kaua‘i County Council accepted the introduction of a draft bill aimed at reversing amendments made in 2014 to its shoreline setback ordinance that have turned out … Continued
In September, when the Hawai‘i Supreme Court ruled that commercial aquarium fish collection permits issued by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources require an environmental review, many thought an injunction closing the fishery would soon follow. The high … Continued
Stewards of the famed seaweed resources off ‘Ewa Beach suffered a major blow earlier this year. On September 29, 1st Circuit Judge Keith Hiraoka issued his official order denying a years-long effort by the group Kua‘aina Ulu ‘Auamo (KUA) to … Continued
Land Board Approves Rule Changes Banning Feeding, Abandoning Animals According to testimony from some of the women who manage feral cat colonies on O‘ahu, cat numbers can be dramatically reduced with proper care — not leaving food out, trapping, spaying … Continued
Over the past year, Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. went from cultivating tens of thousands of acres of one of the thirstiest crops, sugarcane, to raising cattle, experimenting with biofuel crops on a tiny fraction of that land, and working … Continued
Every year, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) holds its annual meeting in December mainly to hash out how to best manage tuna stocks that have been depleted over the years by purse seiners and longline vessels. … Continued