The Honolulu District Court yesterday heard closing summaries a case against the State of Hawaii for issuing aquarium collecting permits without an Environmental impact study.

The public trust law firm Earthjustice, representing a cross section of plaintiffs against the State, had no burden to establish harm but presented overwhelming evidence of harm to Hawaii reefs from massive aquarium extraction.

The DLNR argued that they’d been issuing aquarium collecting permits for 60 years and that they couldn’t enforce a ban on it.

The judge indicated that he will probably not consider DLNR’s claims as reason not to require an EA.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources is seeking public comment on a proposal to streamline the permitting process for traditional Hawaiian fishponds.

The comment period on the proposal’s draft environmental assessment, published April 23 in The Environmental Notice, will run through May 23.

The proposal calls for a single application process for restoration, repair, maintenance and reconstruction of the ponds statewide.

As a part of an initiative to restore the fishponds called “Hoala Loko Ia,” DLNR representatives are available to meet with fishpond practitioners to review the proposal.

Comments can be submitted via the Honua Consulting’s website at www.honuaconsulting.com/lokoia/.

Copies of the assessment and other related documents also can be found at Honua’s website, as well as at hawaii.gov/dlnr/occl/manuals-reports.

For more information, call Michael Cain, staff planner with the Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands, at 783-2501 or email him at michael.cain@hawaii.gov.

Looting the Seas is an award-winning project by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists looking at forces that are rapidly emptying oceans of fish. In its first installment ICIJ documented the massive black market in threatened bluefin tuna.

In the second, it revealed that billions of dollars in subsidies flow into the Spanish fishing industry despite its record of flouting rules and breaking the law.

For the last of the three-part investigation, ICIJ reporters focused on an unlikely protagonist: the bony, bronzed-hued jack mackerel in the southern Pacific. Industrial fleets, after fishing out other waters decimated it at stunning speed. Since so much jack mackerel is reduced to fishmeal for aquaculture and pigs, we eat it unaware with each forkful of farmed salmon.

The plunder continues today as the world’s largest trawlers head south before binding quotas are established. Not long ago, this was one of the world’s richest fishing grounds.

Read the whole report: Looting of the Seas

Important Reminder:

The DLNR’s Maui Public Listening Sessions are scheduled for Saturday, September 17, 2011. We would like to encourage community members to attend the meeting and tell DLNR that you support Maui Nui being chosen as the start up site for DOCARE’s fisheries enforcement’s pilot project (funded by Conservation International and Castle Foundation). Maui’s hard working DOCARE officers can pave the way for additional monies to be added for Kauai and Hawaii Island for this important program.

Mahalo!

Lahaina Listening Session 10:00am – 12:00pm
Lahaina Intermediate School Cafeteria
871 Lahainaluna Road, Lahaina, Hawai‘i 96761

Kahului Listening Session – 2:30pm – 4:30pm
Maui Waena Intermediate School Cafeteria
795 Onehee Street, Kahului, Hawaii 96732

DLNR Administration Team, including Chairperson William J. Aila, Jr., First Deputy Guy H. Kaulukukui, and Water Deputy Bill M. Tam from Honolulu is visiting Maui to hear community comments, questions, and concerns regarding topics under the Department’s jurisdiction. This meeting is hosted by Senate President Shan S. Tsutsui as part of a series of DLNR Listening Sessions to be conducted statewide.

If you are unable to attend but would like to send your comments, questions, and concerns to the DLNR please e-mail:DLNR2011ListeningSessions@hawaii.gov

Individuals requiring special assistance or accommodations are asked to contact Senate President Tsutsui’s Office at (808) 586-7344 at least four days in advance of the meeting.

For more information, visit http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/maui-listening-session

HB850 HD1 SD2 Lana’i Fishery Management Area – This establishes a community-based fishery resource management area around Lana’i, and an advisory committee to the Department of Land and Natural Resources to develop traditional fishery management practices, and advise proposed rules for take of fishery resources. No conference committee hearings have been scheduled as of this report.

HB850 Relating to Fishing – This establishes a community-based fishery resource management area around Lana’i, and an advisory committee to the Department of Land and Natural Resources to develop traditional fishery management practices, and advise proposed rules for take of fishery resources.

Senate WLH Committee passed the bill with amendments, including a provision to incorporate the rules developed under the Act into the ‘aha kiole management system as the fishery management structure for the island of Lana’i, once the rules for the ‘aha kiole management system had been established. Senate WAM Committee passed this bill with amendments 04-01-11. No further hearings are scheduled as of this report.