• Kekaha is the end of the road • Give
shrimp farm a chance • Questions unanswered about
shrimp farm
Kekaha is the end of the road
My family recently moved to Kekaha, having purchased a home here in 2005 with the intent of retiring and volunteering in the community. We had visions of living in a beautiful, unspoiled place that would provide a healthy lifestyle, with a beautiful, 17-mile beach for walking and clean water for swimming, as well as uncontaminated fish to eat.
What a disappointment some of the news has been since we moved here four months ago! There is a long list of concerns now, that already have or will have a huge impact on this community.
— Will it still be safe to walk barefoot on a contaminated ocean beach?
— Will it still be clean enough to swim in the water near this proposed shrimp farm? (One long-time lifeguard already advised me not to swim with any open cuts in Kekaha ocean waters…)
— Will the drinking water be safe enough to drink? (Already long-time locals have advised us not to drink the water…)
Also, as far as the community at large in Kekaha and Waimea is concerned, we see immediately that when something unacceptable for the environment is being planned, Kekaha is truly at the end of the road. Look at the examples of the Kekaha Landfill, the race track, the shrimp farm, poor water quality, moving of the lifeguard station, spraying of toxic weed killer with fire hoses at the ocean’s edge, and general neglect of the roads such as Polihale and Koke‘e, and public buildings.
We are also wondering why Kekaha is not considered to be as valuable a community as others, for example Hanalei, Princeville, and other Kauaian communities with a higher per-capita income, when it comes to placing environmentally damaging facilities and neglecting basic community infrastructural needs, such as clean drinking water and ocean. These actions are too pervasive, and will definitely have a negative impact on the real-estate values and the income of local businesses.
We urge you to reconsider these detrimental policies, so that the citizens of Kekaha can enjoy equal quality of life in their community. Kaua‘i needs to look at the Westside as an underdeveloped resource for the whole island, not as a dumping ground for unwanted businesses and facilities that no other community will tolerate.
Please don’t let this happen to your island’s most undervalued and underutilized resource, Kekaha/Waimea and points westward.
Sincerely,
Mary Rice, Kekaha
Give shrimp farm a chance
Sunrise Capital’s shrimp farm project has had predecessors in the very same locale on the sun-drenched plains of Mana with a checkered history of successes and struggles. There is clear and strong evidence of the economic viability of the succulent shrimp becoming a star attraction. If this current venture is to be successful, the proliferation of plus factors may be measured in the recognition of the quality of the product, the profit margin in sales, the number of jobs created, and mostly, the extent to which the integrity of “malama ‘aina” principles can be monitored and maintained.
This is a fundamental principle of the Native Hawaiian culture which cannot be overlooked. The use and distribution of water on a shrimp farm is of foremost importance, and as such, a major consideration. In essence, the daily amount and flow of water must be handled with precision, transparency, and documented evidence available to assure that stringent requirements are met and maintained. There can be NO unwarranted discharges of contaminated water into the ocean, or left in holding areas disregarded and unmonitored.
In the process, the entities that have vital roles must be proactively engaged each step of the way. The roles and responsibilities of the Board of Health, the state’s DLNR, the Dept. of Agriculture — whoever and whatever else — should contribute and participate with their input, mana‘o, and expertise to assist Sunrise Capital enterprises with this endeavor to establish a shrimp farm of the finest order possible.
Fair is fair.
Sincerely,
Jose Bulatao Jr., Kekaha
Questions unanswered about shrimp farm
How long has this ocean site been a great resource for this community and its many visitors? A clean ocean is the lifeblood of income and recreation for this community. This has been one of the longest uninterrupted beaches in Hawai‘i for many generations, an unparalleled natural resource.
What impact will the shrimp farm discharges have on our community? This business is experimenting with our livelihood. As adults we all know that it is never right to destroy a resource that everyone depends on and shares for the benefit of a few. No small group of individuals should be allowed to negatively impact or exploit the larger community for their own profit.
Of course this will impact the ocean. The same issues have been dealt with in California, where even with the strictest of standards for septic systems near waterways or the ocean, have a continual history of failing and contaminating those waters. If someone were to build a private residence this close to the ocean, what would be the requirements for this volume of waste?
How many households would this volume of waste, 30 million gallons of waste water per day, represent? Two thousand? Fifty thousand? One hundred thousand?
These questions and many more need to be answered for the community of Kekaha. The residents of this community will not give this company a blanket permission to destroy their most valued resource, clean water and ocean, in their own backyard.
Sincerely,
Leslie Birleson, Kekaha
