Hawai'i reefs showing strain of overuse, lack of protection

[Shaka Doug]

Here on Maui's south shore it is becoming rare to see moray eels. They used to be abundant when I began divng here in 1997. Now I make several dives in a row and find none or only very small ones. The fish count and variety is very low too. I have documented the amount of fishing debris I pick up at Five Caves. They keep losing tackle, I keep picking it up. I have no idea what they're fishiing for there any more, most anything worth eating is now gone. I think it's time to try something different. The DLNR Officers should approach every fisherman and see how he's doing. Ask what he's using for bait / tackle and ask about how they deal with lost lines. Some just need to be educated. They want to catch a fish right? Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime....I'm wondering...who taught these guys how to fish??? Somewhere along the way, things got messed up.

 

[vinegarbiscuit]

A more active role by DNLR officials is definately a start. I grew up in Australia, where the power of the Fisheries Inspectors was legendary, and spent a lot of time in towns who derived almost all their income from fishing. On random days, at least one or two inspectors would be waiting at the boat-ramp to verify your license and inspect the boat's catch (or the contents of one's bucket, in the case of shore fishing). More ominously, it wasn't unheard of for inspectors to visit folk at home, after they had unpacked from their fishing trip, and search - yes, without a warrant! - the home's fridge, bathtub, sinks, and coolers for undersized/illegal catches.

Obviously, a similar approach would not fly here in Hawaii - in addition to being almost impossible for inspectors to patrol ALL the shorelines of ALL Hawaii's islands, random inspections would run absolutely counter to the Fourth Amendment. Still there has to be a way to do more to protect and conserve marine life than what we're doing now, without violating the Constitution and people's right to privacy.

 

[Maui Manini]

l see enforcement going on with shoreline fishermen (no see fisherwomen) but I know the state is no longer paying DOCARE overtime, effectively announcing open poaching season. Do you see all those lights in the water at night? Are those the scuba poachers spearing sleeping uhu?

 

[edrobmaui]

There are a few organizations that have stepped in where the State DLNR is slow or non-active in marine preservation. On the Big Island Malama Kai & Big Island Reef Fund (malama-kai.org) and on Maui the Maui Reef Fund (mauireeffund.org) has taken on the State's job of installing and maintaining the Day Use Mooring System. These organizations are a collective of conservationist, educators and resource users (aka commercial operators.) Maui Reef Fund has also collaborated to create the State's first "Voluntary Standards for Environmentally Sustainable SCUBA Diving Practices". Both organizations rely on donations and could use your help! I've posted a short writeup on Maui Reef Fund on my website (maui-scuba.com/articles/maui_reef_fund.html)

 

[FATdiver]

What I am about to write it not meant to offend anyone, but is just constructive criticism. Actually I have been diving in Hawaii a number of times and it has been a very enjoyable experience. However, I do believe that there are some operators that are more conservation conscious than others. I have been on dives with guides that will chase octopus and harass them. In fact, in one instance the guide was so intent on trying to pry the octopus out of the coral he was kicking over hard coral with his fins.

I think it is important that we, as divers, educate each other to become better steward of the oceans. Sorry, I will get off my soap box now.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Maui Reef Fund has also collaborated to create the State's first "Voluntary Standards for Environmentally Sustainable SCUBA Diving Practices".

Welcome to SB.

I would really appreciate it if you would start your first thread and post the "Voluntary Standards for Environmentally Sustainable SCUBA Diving Practices."

 

[spoolin01]

... What the Government has done is set aside nearly 1/3 of the Kona Coast out of reach of the fishermen and fish collectors. IMHO, the biggest threat to Hawaii's reefs isn't the tourist pressure, but the fishing pressure. ...

Hey, when did this happen? What areas are closed off? I was just there in March and reread the regs. Kealakekua is closed to fish take, Old Airport I think, too. Other than that what's closed? From what I can tell, 'closure' on Kona means no aquarium collecting, not much more.

I agree the divers are about zero threat to marine life, especially compared to fishing, and with few very confined exceptions I can't see that they're a problem for the reefs themselves either. As the man said, sometimes the realities of life are disturbing. Some damage is inevitable. On the other hand, there are lots of fish and everything else up and down Kona, maybe a few game species should be protected a bit. Golfers are probably the biggest human threat to the reefs.

 

[smellzlikefish]

"Hey, when did this happen? What areas are closed off? I was just there in March and reread the regs. Kealakekua is closed to fish take, Old Airport I think, too. Other than that what's closed? From what I can tell, 'closure' on Kona means no aquarium collecting, not much more."

You are missing Lapakahi, Waialea Bay, and Waiopae from that list. I probably should have more correctly said "some level of protection." The 12 FMA's you are referring to are off limits to aquarium collecting and gill netting, a severe problem in many areas. While my details may have been somewhat lost (details are only as good as one's memory) the message, fishing is having deleterious impacts on the reef, is still clear. Anybody else read about the Maui closure in this week's Advertiser.

 

[Black_3000psi]

I could be wrong but i think that if you added the negitive effects of diving and fishing together you would be looking at maybe 15% of the negitive impact on the worlds reefs. if you look at it from a local stand point your talking about an even smaller percentage. when you look at declining fish populations one needs to keep in mind that its a very big ocean and the fish will see a lot more of it then any ten of us put together in 20 lifetimes.while one area seems to be dying out others are flourishing.

want to look to the problem ? do you really? are you sure? 75% of the damage is caused by what we are doing above sea level. atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and global warming are major factors.
and as those levels continue to grow the less things will grow underwater. we are the problem because we stand around waiting. waiting for the states and federal gov. to do something about it. oh yeah its so Socially acceptable to talk about it.to intelligently voice ones opinion on the subject, but the moment someone says ok lets do something about it this thread will have a stroke and die.
yeah I know I offend people when i come off like this but maybe thats what it takes, to get people to put down the coffee lattes and mocha cappuccinos and stand up for what you "say" you believe in.
you know one thing that really cracks me up is how everyone is in such a hurry to kill the crown of thorns yet theres a multitude of starfish that actually do more damage to reef then the crown of thorns. secondly there is a life cycle that man still does not fully understand and these starfish are a delicate part of it. we could very well be doing more damage in the long run by killing them. logic tells me that if something lives then at some point it must die. we can best help by trying to better understand the life cycles rather then assuming that all coral must live for ever. oh ok ill shut up now.

 

[smellzlikefish]

"75% of the damage is caused by what we are doing above sea level."

And 72% of all statistics are made up on the spot. Our actions on land have varying affects in the ocean depending on the area. Global warming is an issue that could have all kinds of effects ranging from simple adaptations in most of the world's organisms to mass extinction. Unfortunately, according to Sepkoski (1997), over geologic history, species have gone extinct at an average rate of 2 to 3 per year. In the past 200 years, they have been averaging 74 species per day, and we have yet to see the effects of a warming earth on global biodiversity. With regards to Hawaiian marine biodiversity, the big concern is coral bleaching which has happened, but on a very limited scale. Hawaii is far enough from the equator that most of our corals aren't living at the threshold of bleaching like those on the GBR.

Ocean acidification is going to be a problem for any calcium producing organisms. There are three kinds of biologically available calcium, and some fare better than others. One study subjected temperate pteropods (shell producing organisms) to the projected ocean pH of 2100 (Orr et al, 2005). Instead of growing, their shells actually started to dissolve. This isn't a a huge problem now, but will be and as 3000 psi said, it requires immediate action.

However in Hawaii, while eutrophication, sedimentation, heated effluents, and ship groundings have had localized effects, the biggest problem is the sheer amount of critical players in the food web that have been removed. Some species play some VERY important roles, but the fishing pressure isn't directed at those species whose role is minimal, but instead at what tastes good. We have eaten our way through the apex predators that keep other species in check, and are now working on the grazers that keep algae from taking over our reefs. Had Kaneohe Bay had its grazers in place to take care of the native Dictosphaeria (Gracillaria and Kappaphycus came later), it probably would have fared much better in the face of the sewage outfalls. Given, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have a slightly different species assemblage than the MHI because they are slightly cooler, but the community structure and biodiversity are much different because they don't have local fishing pressures. I used to be a rabid fisherman on the mainland but have stopped after seeing example after example of what it has done to the reefs here.