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| Humpback whales and other marine mammals will have quieter waters to explore with the U.S. Navy agreeing to end its sonar testing program in key habitats of the Pacific, including the coast of Hawai`i Island. Photo from NOAA |
The Ka`u Coffee Trail Run begins and ends along Wood Valley Road above Pahala at Ka`u Coffee Mill, which will be open all day with smoothies and other treats for participants and fans. Entertainment will include Debbie Ryder’s Halau Hula O Leonalani, an `ukulele group called Ka `Ukes, Sammi Fo’s Kahokukauahiahionalani halau and Hannah’s Makana `Ohana of hula dancers. Taiko drummers will open the entertainment.
A silent auction of arts and crafts, dinners, massage therapy, gift baskets from Volcano Winery, orchids from Akatsuka Gardens, gift certificate for auto detailing from Kama`aina Motors, Fair Wind snorkel cruise, Jack’s Diving Locker SCUBA tour, items from Bamboo & Teak, and more.
Race packets are available on race day from 6 a.m. to 6:40 a.m. Race day registration closes at 6:30 a.m. For more information, see race360.com/21357.
Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.
A silent auction of arts and crafts, dinners, massage therapy, gift baskets from Volcano Winery, orchids from Akatsuka Gardens, gift certificate for auto detailing from Kama`aina Motors, Fair Wind snorkel cruise, Jack’s Diving Locker SCUBA tour, items from Bamboo & Teak, and more.
Race packets are available on race day from 6 a.m. to 6:40 a.m. Race day registration closes at 6:30 a.m. For more information, see race360.com/21357.
Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.
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| Waters surrounding Hawai`i Island are protected from the Navy's sonar and explosives testing. Map from Earthjustice |
THE U.S. NAVY HAS AGREED to end its controversial sonar testing program in key habitats of the Pacific. The court settlement will protect critical areas with high concentrations of marine mammals, as well as waters that are vital for their reproduction, feeding and migration.
A federal court yesterday entered an order settling two cases challenging the U.S. Navy’s training and testing activities off the coasts of Hawai`i and Southern California, securing long-sought protections for whales, dolphins and other marine mammals by limiting Navy activities in vital habitat. The settlement stems from the court’s earlier finding that the Navy’s activities illegally harm more than 60 separate populations of whales, dolphins, seals and sea lions.
For the first time, the Navy has agreed to put important habitat for numerous populations off-limits to dangerous mid-frequency sonar training and testing and the use of powerful explosives. The settlement aims to manage the siting and timing of Navy activities, taking into account areas of vital importance to marine mammals and areas in which small, resident populations are concentrated.
Many of the conservation organizations who brought the lawsuits have been sparring legally with the Navy and the National Marine Fisheries Service — the agency charged with protecting marine mammals — for more than a decade, demanding that the Navy and Fisheries Service comply with key environmental laws by acknowledging that the Navy’s activities seriously harm marine mammals and taking affirmative steps to lessen that harm.
Under the agreement, the Navy is prohibited from using mid-frequency active sonar and explosives for training and testing activities on the eastern side of Hawai`i Island and north of Moloka`i and Maui, protecting Hawaiian monk seals and numerous small resident populations of toothed whales including the endangered insular population of false killer whales and Cuvier’s beaked whales.
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| Spotted dolphins inhabit waters off Hawai`i Island. Photo by Robin W. Baird |
The Navy is also prohibited from exceeding a set number of major training exercises in the channel between Maui and Hawai`i Island and on the western side of Hawai`i Island, limiting the number of times local populations will be subjected to massive use of sonar and explosives associated with major training exercises.
Navy surface vessels must use “extreme caution” and travel at a safe speed to minimize the risk of ship strikes in humpback whale habitat.
“We can protect our fleet and safeguard our whales,” said Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “This settlement shows the way to do both, ensuring the security of U.S. Navy operations while reducing the mortal hazard to some of the most majestic creatures on Earth. Our Navy will be the better for this, and so will the oceans our sailors defend.”
David Henkin, an attorney for the national legal organization Earthjustice, who brought the initial challenge to the Navy’s latest round of training and testing, said, “If a whale or dolphin can’t hear, it can’t survive. We challenged the Navy’s plan because it would have unnecessarily harmed whales, dolphins and endangered marine mammals, with the Navy itself estimating that more than 2,000 animals would be killed or permanently injured. By agreeing to this settlement, the Navy acknowledges that it doesn’t need to train in every square inch of the ocean and that it can take reasonable steps to reduce the deadly toll of its activities.”
Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.
Navy surface vessels must use “extreme caution” and travel at a safe speed to minimize the risk of ship strikes in humpback whale habitat.
“We can protect our fleet and safeguard our whales,” said Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “This settlement shows the way to do both, ensuring the security of U.S. Navy operations while reducing the mortal hazard to some of the most majestic creatures on Earth. Our Navy will be the better for this, and so will the oceans our sailors defend.”
David Henkin, an attorney for the national legal organization Earthjustice, who brought the initial challenge to the Navy’s latest round of training and testing, said, “If a whale or dolphin can’t hear, it can’t survive. We challenged the Navy’s plan because it would have unnecessarily harmed whales, dolphins and endangered marine mammals, with the Navy itself estimating that more than 2,000 animals would be killed or permanently injured. By agreeing to this settlement, the Navy acknowledges that it doesn’t need to train in every square inch of the ocean and that it can take reasonable steps to reduce the deadly toll of its activities.”
Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.
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| Dr. Virginia Pressler |
MORE THAN HALF OF ADULTS and adolescents who participated over the past five years in a substance abuse treatment program and completed a six-month follow-up survey had remained clean, reporting no substance use in 30 days prior to the follow-up, according to Hawai`i Department of Health’s recently released 2015 Alcohol and Drug Treatment Services Report. The majority had managed their lives well without any arrests, hospitalizations and emergency room visits since they had been discharged from the treatment programs.
The report was released to coincide with National Recovery Month, a nationwide recognition of various alcohol and drug treatment programs and initiatives focused on recovery efforts.
“One of the Hawai`i Department of Health’s foremost priorities is to make the recovery efforts visible, give a voice to those who have recovered and inspire others in the community to see how valuable these programs have been,” said DOH Director Virginia Pressler, M.D. “We may all know a friend, neighbor or relative who may be bound by alcohol and drug abuse. These are encouraging statistics for all of us in Hawai`i.”
Over the past five years, from 2010 to 2014, Hawai`i invested an average of $17 million in state and federal funds each year to address alcohol and drug abuse. In 2014, the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division provided funding for 24 agencies at 52 sites to provide treatment for adults, and 10 agencies at 107 sites to offer services for adolescents. In the five-year period, there was a 26 percent increase in sites for adolescents and a 16 percent increase in sites for adults.
DOH is now in the planning stages for transition and case management services as a next step in the treatment and recovery process to fill the community’s need.
Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.
KA`U HIGH BOWLERS OPENED their season last Saturday with the boys posting wins over Hilo High 3-0. High scores were 151 for Titan Ault, 115 for Travis Taylor and 105 for Mark Galacio.
Ka`u girls lost to Hilo 0-3. Kealakehe won their games against Ka`u 0-3.
Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.
“One of the Hawai`i Department of Health’s foremost priorities is to make the recovery efforts visible, give a voice to those who have recovered and inspire others in the community to see how valuable these programs have been,” said DOH Director Virginia Pressler, M.D. “We may all know a friend, neighbor or relative who may be bound by alcohol and drug abuse. These are encouraging statistics for all of us in Hawai`i.”
Over the past five years, from 2010 to 2014, Hawai`i invested an average of $17 million in state and federal funds each year to address alcohol and drug abuse. In 2014, the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division provided funding for 24 agencies at 52 sites to provide treatment for adults, and 10 agencies at 107 sites to offer services for adolescents. In the five-year period, there was a 26 percent increase in sites for adolescents and a 16 percent increase in sites for adults.
DOH is now in the planning stages for transition and case management services as a next step in the treatment and recovery process to fill the community’s need.
Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.
KA`U HIGH BOWLERS OPENED their season last Saturday with the boys posting wins over Hilo High 3-0. High scores were 151 for Titan Ault, 115 for Travis Taylor and 105 for Mark Galacio.
Ka`u girls lost to Hilo 0-3. Kealakehe won their games against Ka`u 0-3.
Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.
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| Ceremonies to honor ancestors take place each evening during Ho`okupu Hula No Ka`u Cultural Festival. Photo by Julia Neal |
HO`OKUPU HULA NO KA`U Cultural Festival organizers have announced entertainment for the event on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 2 and 3 on the grounds of Pahala Plantation House.
Entertainment both days begins with an opening pule at 4 p.m. Ka`imia Na`auao Kahiko/Ka`u School of Arts and Kumu Hula Marsha Bolosan take the stage at 5:45 p.m., followed by a Kukui Ceremony (Honoring our Ancestors) at 6:30 p.m., Kamehameha School with Kumu Hula Kimo Kekua at 7 p.m., Makanau at 8 p.m., Halau Hula O Leionalani with Kumu Hula Debbie Ryder at 8:45 p.m. and Keaiwa at 9:30 p.m.
On Satuday, Inoue `Ohana Band from Japan performs at 4:30 p.m. followed by Kahoku Kauahiahionalani with Kumu Hula Sammy Fo at 5:30 p.m., Kukui Ceremony (Remembering our Ancestors) at 6:15 p.m., Ho`omaika`i Hula Halau with Kumu Hula Shona LamHo at 6:30 p.m., Times 5 at 7:30 p.m., Halau Hula O Ke Anuenue with Kumu Hula Glen Vasconcellas at 8:30 p.m. and Los Borinquen’os at 9:30 p.m.
KA`U RESIDENTS CAN PARTICIPATE in tomorrow’s Hawai`i County Council meetings via videoconferencing at Na`alehu State Office Building. County Council meets at 9 a.m., Planning Committee at 2 p.m. and Finance Committee at 2:30 p.m.
Agendas and live streams of the meetings are available at hawaiicounty.gov.
KUPAOA PRESENTS A FREE HAWAIIAN music concert tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.
Park entrance fees apply. For more information, call 985-6011.
On Satuday, Inoue `Ohana Band from Japan performs at 4:30 p.m. followed by Kahoku Kauahiahionalani with Kumu Hula Sammy Fo at 5:30 p.m., Kukui Ceremony (Remembering our Ancestors) at 6:15 p.m., Ho`omaika`i Hula Halau with Kumu Hula Shona LamHo at 6:30 p.m., Times 5 at 7:30 p.m., Halau Hula O Ke Anuenue with Kumu Hula Glen Vasconcellas at 8:30 p.m. and Los Borinquen’os at 9:30 p.m.
KA`U RESIDENTS CAN PARTICIPATE in tomorrow’s Hawai`i County Council meetings via videoconferencing at Na`alehu State Office Building. County Council meets at 9 a.m., Planning Committee at 2 p.m. and Finance Committee at 2:30 p.m.
Agendas and live streams of the meetings are available at hawaiicounty.gov.
KUPAOA PRESENTS A FREE HAWAIIAN music concert tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.
Park entrance fees apply. For more information, call 985-6011.
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.
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| See kaucalendar.com/KauCalendar_Sept2015.pdf. |
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| See kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.swf and kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.pdf. |
