• Whale study misuse • Fishing enforcement • On OHA’s role • We are a target Whale study misuse In yesterday’s edition, “studies” about whales were once again misused to make a point (“More opinions on whale collisions,” Letters, Nov.
• Whale study misuse
• Fishing enforcement
• On OHA’s role
• We are a target
Whale study misuse
In yesterday’s edition, “studies” about whales were once again misused to make a point (“More opinions on whale collisions,” Letters, Nov. 25).
In this case it was David Laist’s Collisions between Ships and Whales (2001). Most of the text of this 42-page report is about the difficulty in obtaining data on this topic and how these data are collected in incomparable ways. Nevertheless, the conclusion section states that 14 knots is a speed safer for whales even though his data is insufficient to support such a statement. The conclusion is a logical deduction sourced on conventional wisdom the same as if I were to say driving at 40 mph is safer than 55 mph.
Why insert this conclusion into this study? Because David Laist was, and is, an advocate for speed limits in the area of whales, manatees, etc.
The letter writer also cites NOAA’s proposed speed limit concerning right whales in the Atlantic. I could misuse Laist’s study by saying 70 percent of right whale collisions involve propellers and the Superferry doesn’t have propellers. The misuse would be that in this excerpt, Laist is only discussing a small sample of 10 whales.
My point is that these whale studies are as flawed as how they are used. Not the least of the reasons are: Right whales have nothing to do with humpbacks. The Continental Shelf has nothing to do with the waters off Kaua‘i and Maui. The captain, crew and equipment used off Corsica or the Canaries have nothing to do with an American vessel. Studies by advocates are biased, etc., etc., etc.
Peter Antonson
Wailua
Fishing enforcement
In the past, the state of Hawai‘i has been reluctant to follow suit with other states in creating a recreational saltwater fishing license.
Yet in other states, shoreline fishing is very productive, enforcement officers are very prominent and serious consideration is extended to the native people. Given our current crisis of resource depletion, perhaps it is time for our state to make a change. A fishing license would provide more funding for enforcement. Undoubtedly we need more.
It could also allow an officer to at least search a cooler or catch bag. Why should abusers go unchecked while the rest of us who follow the rules suffer the effects of their efforts? Most importantly, a fishing license would be an effective way to quantify the number of fishermen in Hawai‘i. This would give the fishermen a voice.
Our governor often speaks of innovation and moving our state forward. Perhaps it is time we move away from how we used to manage our fisheries, which obviously isn’t good enough, and move forward into a new era of conservation. Sadly, times do change, the fishing that once was is no longer. Shall we continue on as we have, or do we adapt and overcome the detriments of time?
Darrell Tanaka
Haiku, Maui
On OHA’s role
The chair of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs should be replaced during the 2008 elections, as should the office’s director. OHA leadership has done much as of late to gain publicity while doing little for their beneficiaries. The director needs to work with all trustees and not just the majority faction. Leadership must set a plan of action, which needs to be shared with all trustees regardless of faction, and then put that plan into motion.
The Superferry issue left much hurt in the Hawaiian community, and in the community at-large. We need community ho‘oponopono to reunite people and bring our community together again. Folks must remember that Kamehameha unified our islands nearly 200 years ago, thus making us one people. We are not Maui Hawaiians, Kaua‘i Hawaiians or O‘ahu Hawaiians — we are all simply Hawaiians. No native indigenous people in America — Hawaiians being the exception — can claim that they were once a single nation united under one globally recognized government.
I understand completely that the Superferry is a private company, but this issue has impacted the state’s general citizenry. OHA could have and should have facilitated meetings with their beneficiaries on Maui and Kaua‘i to hear their concerns, and then work with other elected officials to mitigate these concerns. OHA has cultural experts whose expertise would have been beneficial to the discussion, and could have potentially eased people’s concerns. Instead of being proactive, OHA sent a representative to a hearing called by the state Legislature to read a one-paragraph statement. That’s a demonstration of poor leadership, which seems to be the norm at OHA as of late. For these and other reasons, I encourage folks to join me in voting for change in 2008.
Whitney T. Anderson
Waimanalo, O‘ahu
We are a target
I folded my hands in restful gratitude to the few men who made the right decision (in mid-November) and told the United States Navy to lessen the harm its high-powered sonar does to whales and other marine life.
The California lawsuit states sonar causes whales to beach themselves and die and harm comes to many other marine life. I am sure most Kaua‘i people are supporting that the right decision comes in time for the humpback whales and their babies.
While examining the human, I find it senseless to see the human need to create self destruction over protecting precious life. The uniformed humans are planning our future where death rays, missiles that explode other missiles and the world’s oceans monitored with sound (10,000 times louder than a rocket launch) that kills everything. It is unbelievable the damage they do playing war games and of course their deadly testing goes on and on.
By looking from above you would see the most sensitive marine locations on the planet are the very places where the world’s navies do the most killing. And the horrible thing is, there is no one out there who is powerful enough to stop them. Many are holding their breath hoping that Hawai‘i’s wise men will protect rather than allow more harm and stop the expansion of PMRF and the Superferry. Because Kaua‘i is the most strategic location in the Pacific Ocean for the U.S. Navy, we’ve become a target.
How does the most loving and beautiful of people neighbor with the human spirit that causes the most pain and the possible end to many species and eventually us all? When the ocean dies, we die.
Diana LaBedz
Kekaha
