Kona Reef Check

Billfish fishing bust

Kara D'Avella — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:31:00 GMT

Illegal Fishing Bust in Mag Bay

Community based enforcement efforts supported by The Billfish Foundation (TBF) through the Baja California Sur Center for Marine Protection and funded by the recreational fishing license fees paid to FONMAR have resulted in three recent seizures of illegally harvested dorado. TBF was instrumental in getting FONMAR established so that angler's license fees would go directly to assisting conservation and protection of the fish resources. Three weeks ago, a vessel was seized in Loreto and, this past weekend, two boats owned by commercial longline king Henry Collard were seized and charged with illegally harvesting dorado while using a shark permit in Magdelena Bay.

Collard, a prominent representative of commercial fishing interests, was reported in El Sudcaliforniano to have threatened fisheries enforcement agents that he "is a personal friend of Ramon Corral and you can't do this to me!" This statement does not do much for Corral's already tainted image by accusations of wrong doing by his own Conapesca personnel. Corral is the head of Mexico's fisheries agency CONAPESCA and has been an unyielding supporter of the shark Nom-029 that attempted to allow the "incidental" harvest of billfish, dorado and other species within Mexico's 24 year old conservation zones. "Apparently the recent interest of U.S. enforcement officials in the import of illegally caught dorado has persuaded CONAPESCA that they need to concede TBF's position that there is no basis in Mexican law to allow bycatch in the conservation zones and enforce the federal fisheries law," said TBF President Ellen Peel. Full details of the story will follow in the upcoming issue of Billfish magazine.

The Loreto vessel was seized on August 13, 2008. To see the article (in Spanish) and photo, please visit
El Sudcaliforniano's website.

More on plastic bags

Kara D'Avella — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 19:03:00 GMT

Forwarded from Kathy Malaksy

A picture is worth a thousand words - check out this link.

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080506/MULTIMEDIA02/80505016

News Release

Kara D'Avella — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:57:00 GMT

Aloha, everyone! Please contact Big Island Mayor Harry Kim and urge him to sign the Bill 326, which prohibits Big Island businesses from offering plastic bags at checkouts. The bill encourages Big Island businesses to offer customers 100 percent recyclable paper bags (which must be made out of a minimum of 40 percent post-consumer recycled content) or reusable totes. The text of the bill is provided below. Mahalo nui loa!

Mayor Harry Kim
phone: 961-8211
email:    cohmayor@co.hawaii.hi.us

* Bill 326 will protect marine life and the environment by reducing the number of plastic bags that end up on our beaches and in our ocean.

* Bill 326 will conserve resources by reducing the amount of energy needed to manufacture and ship plastic bags to Hawaii, and by encouraging folks to use reusable bags.

* Bill 326 will save Hawaii County money. Hawaii County spends hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in overtime alone to pick up windblown bags and avoid state Department of Health fines.

* Bill 326 will save retailers because they will longer have to purchase plastic bags.

* Bill 326 provides an opportunity for Hawaii County residents to make a positive difference and protect the environment. Island Naturals Market & Deli stores on the Big Island converted in a matter of months, and customers are very pleased.

* Bill 326 is part of a growing and positive global trend to promote sustainable lifestyles. Last week, Maui county passed the states first municipal ban on plastic bags. San Francisco and Los Angeles have banned plastic shopping bags, and Seattle is considering a 20-cent charge to consumers who want to use plastic bags. Other cities are considering bans because of the cost of cleaning up flyaway plastic bags in streets and landfills.

Bill 326

SECTION 1.   Findings and purpose. The production and use of plastic bags have significant impacts on the environment, including: contributing to unsightly litter; contributing to injuries and potential death of marine and pasture animals through ingestion and entanglement; and requiring the use of millions of barrels of crude oil for their manufacture when there is a limited supply of that natural resource.

The council finds that to preserve the health, safety, welfare, and scenic and natural beauty of the County of Hawaii, the use of plastic bags must be regulated. The Hawaii County general plans Environmental Quality Element 4.3 specifies the following policies for the County:

(a) Positive action to further maintain the quality of the environment.
(b) Reinforce and strengthen established standards where it is necessary, principally by initiating, recommending, and adopting ordinances pertaining to the control of
pollutants that affect the environment.
(c) Encourage the concept of recycling agricultural, industrial, and municipal waste material.

The council recognizes the need to proactively address the universally recognized environmental harm resulting from the proliferation of plastic bags. The purpose of this article is to reduce the use of plastic bags and to encourage the use of environmentally preferable alternatives, such as reusable bags. While the best outcome to this regulatory plan would be to encourage consumers to routinely b.y.o.b. (bring your own reusable bag), this bill takes a more limited approach by initially only prohibiting plastic bags that are harmful to other species when they become entangled in the bags or accidentally ingest the bags. The current bill addresses only plastic shopping bags which are distributed to customers as checkout bags, and not other plastic bags which are used for garbage, greenwaste, etc.

SECTION 2. Chapter 20, Hawaii County Code 1983 (2005 Edition, as amended), is amended by adding a new article 5, to read as follows:

Article 5. Plastic Bag Reduction.

Section 20-50. Purpose.

The purpose of this article is to reduce the use of plastic bags and to encourage the use of environmentally preferable alternatives, such as reusable bags.

Section 20-51. Definitions.

As used in this article:

Business means any commercial enterprise or establishment, including sole proprietorships, joint ventures, partnerships and corporations, or any other legal entity, whether for profit or not for profit, and includes all employees of the business or any independent contractors associated with the business.

Checkout bag means a carryout bag that is provided by a business to a customer at the point of sale for the purpose of transporting groceries or other goods.

Director means the director of environmental management.

Plastic bag means a bag that is made from non-compostable plastic or compostable plastic and that is not specifically designed and manufactured for multiple re-use.

Recyclable paper bag means a paper checkout bag provided by a business to a customer at the point of sale for the purpose of transporting groceries or other goods which meets the following requirements: (1) contains no old growth fiber, (2) is one hundred percent recyclable, and (3) contains a minimum of forty percent post-consumer recycled content.

Reusable bag means a bag that is specifically designed and manufactured for multiple re-use and is (1) made of cloth or other washable fabric, or (2) made of other durable material suitable for re-use.

Section 20-52. Administration.

(a) The director shall administer this article and shall adopt administrative rules pursuant to chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, within one hundred eighty days from the effective date of this ordinance.

(b) On or before September 1 of each year, the director shall submit to the council a report assessing any reduction in the use of plastic bags.

Section 20-53. Plastic bag restrictions.

(a) Businesses are prohibited from providing plastic checkout bags to their customers at the point of sale beginning one year from the effective date of this ordinance.

(b) Businesses may instead provide only recyclable paper bags or reusable bags as checkout bags for their customers.

(c) Nothing in this article shall preclude a business from making reusable or recyclable paper checkout bags available either for sale or without charge to their customers.

Section 20-54. Summons or citation for violation.

A police officer shall use a form of summons or citation provided by the County in citing a violator of any provision of this article.

Section 20-55. Penalty.

(a) Any person who violates the provisions of this article shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $1,000 and/or not more than 200 hours of community service for each offense and shall be required to remove their plastic bags or shall be liable for the costs of removing the plastic bags.

(b) Each day of violation shall constitute a separate offense.

(c) Fines collected pursuant to this chapter shall be deposited into the public access, open space, and natural resources fund, as authorized by section 2-214(b)(3), which permits monies to be deposited to the fund from any source of revenue dedicated by the Hawaii County Charter or the Hawaii County Code for the purposes of this article.

SECTION 3. Severability. If any provision of this ordinance, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end, the provisions of this ordinance are declared to be severable.

SECTION 4. New material is underscored. In printing this ordinance, the underscoring need not be included.

SECTION 5. This ordinance shall take effect upon approval.

INTRODUCED BY:
COUNCIL MEMBER, COUNTY OF Hawaii

Non-Mandatory Regulations by Coral

Kara D'Avella — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:19:00 GMT

Taskforce members sought to help develop voluntary standards for marine tourism; CORAL hires Kona-based Field Representative

The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) would like to announce the hiring of Kara Osada as their new Kona Field Representative. Kara will be responsible for facilitating coral reef conservation projects based in Kailua-Kona, such as the development of voluntary standards for marine tourism, a project that was recently launched and is now underway.

Kara joins Liz Foote, CORAL’s Hawaii Field Manager on Maui, in becoming CORAL’s newest Hawaii-based staff member. Originally from Colorado, Kara has had a lifetime passion for the ocean that was nurtured by trips to the Atlantic, Pacific, and the Caribbean throughout her childhood. Kara moved to Hawaii in 1999 to pursue higher education at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, graduating in 2004 with a double major in Biology (in a conservation and ecology track), and Marine Science. Kara is also currently employed by the Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources and Jack’s Diving Locker, serves as Reef Check’s Hawaii Island Scientist, and is finishing a Master’s Degree at UH Hilo in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Sciences. In addition, she manages her own company providing CPR, First Aid and Oxygen certification.

Towards the end of February, CORAL held an informational meeting to announce the new stakeholder-led project it is facilitating in Kailua-Kona, the development of voluntary standards for marine tourism. Representatives from the following businesses, organizations, and agencies were in attendance: Adventures in Paradise, Bottom Time Hawaii, Dolphin Journeys, Expedia, Fair Wind, Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources, Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, Jack's Diving Locker, Kohala Center, Kohala Divers, Kona Honu Divers, Kula Nai'a Foundation, Malama Kai Foundation, NOAA Fisheries, Red Sail Sports, Reefwatchers, Red Sail Sports, Sea Quest, The Nature Conservancy, University of Hawaii SeaGrant, West Hawaii Explorations Academy, and West Hawaii Fisheries Council.

These stakeholders are now forming a Taskforce for this project, and will work together to identify good environmental practices for marine recreation and to codify those practices into Voluntary Standards that can be formally adopted and promoted by marine recreation providers. To develop the standards, a Steering Committee will guide the process and work to identify, adapt and modify local Best Practices, while a Taskforce will be established to participate in this consensus-based, multi-stakeholder driven method of standards development.

The steering committee has recently identified the topics for standards development in Kailua-Kona, which include: 1) Boating (including kayaking and jet skiing); 2) Wildlife Interactions (turtles, dolphins, manta rays, and sharks); 3) Scuba Diving & Snuba; 4) Snorkeling (including spearfishing); and 5) Beachfront Operations (such as gear rental providers, surf schools, canoe clubs & tours).

Taskforce members are now being sought; the Kona Standards Taskforce (KST) is open to all; any person, organization or agency that wants to become a member of the KST and participate in the adoption or development of voluntary standards may apply. Furthermore, working groups are now being formed, providing an additional opportunity for those with appropriate expertise to assist in the actual drafting of the standards. CORAL is seeking representatives from a broad and balanced set of stakeholder groups including: marine recreation providers (scuba, snorkeling, kayaking, surfing, and others), non-governmental agencies, marine resource managers, Hawaiian cultural groups, academia, activity wholesalers (activity agencies, hotel concierges, cruise lines, etc), individual ocean users (divers, snorkelers, kayakers, etc.) and those generally interested, with experience & expertise in marine recreation and reef conservation.

For more information about the project or to join the Taskforce, please contact Kara Osada; the first meeting of the working groups or subcommittees will be held May 20^th (RSVP required); Kara Osada may be reached at (808) 896-1889 or kara@konaCPR.com.

The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL), based in San Francisco, is a member-supported, non-profit organization, dedicated to protecting the health of coral reefs by integrating ecosystem management, sustainable tourism, and community partnerships. CORAL works with communities to identify and solve conservation challenges; changes attitudes and behavior through education and training; provides resources to strengthen marine protected areas; and creates incentives for sustainable tourism.

Fishing Pressure

Kara D'Avella — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:11:00 GMT

Fishing throws targeted species off balance, study shows

This schematic outlines variability on exploited and unexploited. Credit: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego

Fishing activities can provoke volatile fluctuations in the populations they target, but it’s not often clear why. A new study published in the journal Nature by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and colleagues has identified the general underlying mechanism.

Research led at Scripps with a distinguished team of government and international experts (including two chief scientific advisors to the United Kingdom) demonstrates that fishing can throw targeted fish populations off kilter. Fishing can alter the “age pyramid” by lopping off the few large, older fish that make up the top of the pyramid, leaving a broad base of faster-growing small younglings. The team found that this rapidly growing and transitory base is dynamically unstable—a finding having profound implications for the ecosystem and the fishing industries built upon it.

“The data show that fished species appear to be significantly more nonlinear and less stable than unfished species,” said Professor George Sugihara of Scripps. “We think the mechanism involves systematic alteration of the demographic parameters—and especially increases in growth rates that magnify destabilization in many ways—which can happen as fishing truncates the age structure.”

Imagine a container of water with a 500-pound fish. With food, it grows a little bigger. Without food it gets a bit smaller. Imagine the same container with 500 one-pound fish. They eat, reproduce and the resulting thousands of fish boom, quickly outstripping the resources and the population crashes. These many smaller fish—with the same initial “biomass” as the larger fish—can’t average out the environmental fluctuations, and in fact amplify them through higher turnover rates that promote boom and bust cycles.

The study that included academic and government scientists from Alaska, Asia and Great Britain is based on data from the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI), a program based at Scripps that has monitored fish and oceanographic activities of the California Current for more than 50 years. To arrive at their results, the researchers compared the CalCOFI records of larvae, a key indicator of adult populations, of both fished and non-fished species in the California Current.

Fishing typically extracts the older, larger members of a targeted species and fishing regulations often impose minimum size limits to protect the smaller, younger fishes.

“That type of regulation, which we see in many sport fisheries, is exactly wrong,” said Sugihara. “It’s not the young ones that should be thrown back, but the larger, older fish that should be spared. Not only do the older fish provide stability and capacitance to the population, they provide more and better quality offspring.”

Thus the danger, according to Sugihara, is that current policies that manage according to current biomass targets (without significant forecast skill) while ignoring fish size pose risks that can further destabilize the population. This instability can in principle propagate systemically to the whole ecosystem, much like a stock market crash or a domino effect, and magnify risk for the fishing industry itself as well as those of ecologically related fisheries.

This is especially true when trying to rebuild fish stocks, Sugihara says.

“This may be the most important implication of this work, as we attempt to rehabilitate fisheries,” said Sugihara. “Regulations based solely on biomass harvest targets are incomplete. They must also account for age-size structure in the populations,” he said. “Current policies and industry pressures that encourage lifting bans on fishing when biomass is rehabilitated—but where maximum age and size are not—contain risk.”

This is currently the case with Atlantic swordfish, for which industry pressures to resume fishing are based on the restoration of historic biomass levels, even though the swordfish are clearly undersized.

“In the extreme case, the danger of such unstable dynamics for certain populations for management is that harvest targets may lag the population, potentially making things worse,” said Sugihara. “A high harvest target may be set after an especially abundant period when the population may be poised to decline on it’s own. Likewise future abundant periods may represent missed opportunities, despite current low abundances. As senior officials of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans have said, ‘we are often a year behind in our stock projections.’”

Sugihara cautioned that nonlinearity is not unique to fished species. Nonequilibrium overshooting and undershooting occurs in unexploited stocks, but to a lower extent. Therefore, classical single-species population models that require equilibrium are unlikely to be very successful in stock forecasts, except perhaps in the very short term.

"Other methods that do not rely on these assumptions may be more promising," suggests Christian Anderson, paper co-author.

Source: University of California - San Diego

This news is brought to you by PhysOrg.com

Species of special concern

Kara D'Avella — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:56:00 GMT

Stakeholders assembling list of 'species of interest'

by Carolyn Lucas
West Hawaii Today
clucas@westhawaiitoday.com
Monday, April 21, 2008 8:19 AM HST

When does a marine animal need protection in West Hawaii waters?

The state Division of Aquatic Resources, West Hawaii Fisheries Council and residents are attempting to answer this question as they form a "species of special concern" list.

Over the years, some people have made assertions that certain animals deserve conservation actions because they are potentially at risk, limited in number, vulnerable to low-levels of unnatural mortality, are aumakua (Hawaiian ancestral spirits), contribute irreplaceable ecosystem services, are not traditionally eaten, reproduce slowly, are beneficial to an industry, use specialized habitat or have poor aquarium survivorship, said Bill Walsh, state aquatic biologist.

These issues prompted the West Hawaii Fisheries Council, which advises the state on fishery regulations for their region, to form the Species of Special Concern Subcommittee in 2006. This group is tasked with helping to determine what gets listed and receives protection. The Division of Aquatic Resources, on the other hand, has been working internally on a similar catalogue. Both lists will be merged together, narrowed down and discussed at the West Hawaii Fisheries Council's regular monthly meeting from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. May 15 at the Hawaii Big Game Fishing Club at Honokohau Small Boat Harbor.

Among the creatures being considered are manta and eagle rays, sharks, dragon moray eels, barracuda, Bandit angelfish, Cowfish, Bluestripe butterfly and Hawaiian turkeyfish. According to Walsh, criteria for classifying species of special concern is still being developed and the list is incomplete, and can be changed. He also stressed that species traditionally consumed for food will not be considered or placed on the proposed list.

If the number of species deemed deserving protection becomes too great, Walsh said the West Hawaii Fisheries Council and Division of Aquatic Resources may consider having a whitelist, which would detail the accepted items for taking, rather than a blacklist.

Life history and population ecology studies do not exist for some proposed species. Still Walsh said this should not deter the use of common sense, proper underwater etiquette, precautionary principles, guidance and action. Nor should meaningless slaughter or the deterioration of a healthy ecosystem be allowed. He added enforcement measures can always be undone or changed, but some damage, such as overharvesting and killing, is irreversible.

Species of concern lists are not new. Agencies like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service have such registers.

While international, federal and state rules exist, Walsh said they tend to afford protection to plants and animals that are generally agreed to be at a high risk of extinction. Such regulations can also be limited in their jurisdiction, conflicting and incomplete. For instance, it is legal to kill sharks. However, finning -- the practice of cutting off the fins and throwing the remainder of the shark overboard -- is prohibited in federal and state waters, including the Pacific Ocean.

The proposed species of special concern presently have no legal protection in West Hawaii waters. The West Hawaii Fisheries Council and Division of Aquatic Resources are seeking management recommendations for these creatures. Suggestions already gathered include prohibiting harvesting, capturing, killing, fishing, possessing or intentional harming.

A formalized species of special concern list for West Hawaii waters will eventually be recommended to the state, which would decide whether it would become an administrative rule.

Comments on list contents are invited. Suggestions can be sent to West Hawaii Fisheries Council, P.O. Box 489, Kailua-Kona, HI 96745. Input may also be e-mailed to the Division of Aquatic Resources at darkona@hawaiiantel.net.

May Dive

Kara D'Avella — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:55:00 GMT

When can you dive? - Enter your vote by posting a comment!

We will be doing our next dive during the Kona Classic May 24th - 31st 2008

Days we would set up a dive:

Saturday May 24th

Monday May 26th

Friday May 30th

Saturday May 31st

Please post your vote as to which day you can make it!

Or email/call Kara ph: 808-896-1889 Email: Kara@KonaCPR.com

The Reef Thanks You!

April 12th Reef Check Dive

Kara D'Avella — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:25:00 GMT

Honokohau Harbor Dive April 12th 2008

We had a wonderful dive at Honokohau yesterday. This was the first dive to start our new protocol in coral disease monitoring here in Hawaii. Pictures will be uploaded shortly of disease we observed.

As a note - please remember that just because disease is present on a reef does not mean the reef is not healthy. In fact, having some disease on a reef can actually indicate health as all the biological factors to have that disease present are actually on the reef!

I want to thank our volunteers who dove with us and welcome them to share on this site there dive experience in collecting samples through this page.

As always we are always looking for new volunteers as well as we are trying to get our Big Island Reef Check project up and running! Please contact:

Kara Osada - The team scientist ph: 808-896-1889 or email: Kara@KonaCPR.com If you are interested in getting involved!

We also have a new webpage I will be sharing images posting dives on at: KonaReefCheck.org