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Environment

News stories regarding Molokai’s outdoor environment

10th Annual Keiki Fishing Tournament

Friday, July 19th, 2024

10th Annual Keiki Fishing Tournament

There was a time when Robert Kalawe Jr. got so good a hooking the biggest fish that he wasn’t allowed to enter fishing tournaments on Molokai anymore. So he decided to open his own fishing tournament. The irony, however, is that he wasn’t allowed to participate even in his own tournament – it was only for the keiki.
“I used to watch all the kids and they used to enjoy all the action, so I created something for the kids to give back to the community,” said Kalawe, explaining he started the Annual Keiki Fishing Tournament back in 2011, but this year’s is the 10th edition because of a hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic.…

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NOAA to Survey Coral Reefs and Ocean Conditions

Friday, July 12th, 2024

This summer, residents and visitors may see a large white ship sailing around Molokai and other Hawaiian Islands. This ship will be launching small orange boats carrying teams of scientific divers to conduct noninvasive underwater surveys close to shore. The ship will be off the coast of Molokai from July 15 to July 19, but this schedule is weather dependent.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries and the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) will be measuring and counting reef fish, assessing coral health, and collecting ocean temperature and condition data. In addition to recording biological and habitat data, they will also be taking images of the ocean floor.…

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Workforce Boost for Solar Energy

Thursday, June 20th, 2024

Workforce Boost for Solar Energy

Molokai has a new batch of home-grown solar sales graduates.

“There’s a lot more to come, a lot more to build upon, but the goal is for everyone to seize this vision and make the commitment to renewable energy,” said Liliana Napoleon, Ho’ahu Energy Cooperative Molokai’s (HECM) project coordinator.

After completing a spring term course in collaboration with HECM, the ten graduates of the Clean Energy Solar Sales Training Course were recognized for the skills and knowledge they acquired at their graduation on June 10. The course focused on understanding the marketability and economics of solar systems as well as the technical features of solar installation.…

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Promising Signs for Native Species Recovery in Mokio

Thursday, June 20th, 2024

Promising Signs for Native Species Recovery in Mokio

Wedged between ‘Ilio Point and Mo’omomi, the Mokio Preserve has been a focal point for native species rehabilitation for years. Now, with the completion of a state-of-the-art predator proof fence, the preserve is poised to support a resurgence of native plants and birds.

Construction of the 5,600-foot-long conservation fence began back in August 2020 as a joint project between the Molokai Land Trust and American Bird Conservancy (ABC).

“We’ve already begun seeing benefits from the newly installed fence, including Wedge-tailed Shearwater (‘Ua’u Kani) chicks this year, compared to previous years when all chicks were lost to mongoose predation,” explained Bard Keitt, oceans and islands director at ABC.…

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Coastal Homestead Community Resilience Plan Begins

Thursday, June 13th, 2024

Coastal Homestead Community Resilience Plan Begins

Molokai community members are taking another important step in addressing sea level rise and climate change.
Dept. of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) residents of Kalamaula, Kapa‘akea, and Kamiloloa One Ali‘i are encouraged to attend the second beneficiary meeting to discuss the Molokai Coastal Homestead Community Resilience Plan (MCH-CRP). This meeting is a critical step toward ensuring the sustainability and resilience of Molokai’s coastal communities.

The primary goal of this session is to identify key issues and hazards affecting each ahupua‘a, including flooding, erosion, deforestation, and wildfires. This meeting marks the initial step in developing solutions and initiating relevant projects to address these challenges.…

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Joe Kennedy Marks a Half-Century of Farming on Molokai

Wednesday, June 5th, 2024

Joe Kennedy Marks a Half-Century of Farming on Molokai

Joe Kennedy won’t give up. He’s been farming on Molokai for 55 years and despite heart trouble and a fractured pelvis, the 83-year-old is determined to keep producing food and to share his wealth of knowledge.
“I had a charmed childhood,” said Kennedy, who grew up in Missouri, where the family had a farm and loved gardening and nature. Although he earned a college degree in teaching and art, what he really wanted was to farm. While teaching in Alaska, his supervisor recommended he try Hawaii.
“Oahu was too commercialized,” said Kennedy, “but when I came to Molokai in 1969, I took one look at the land and people and knew I was going to stay.…

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Sources of Marine Plastic Pollution

Wednesday, May 29th, 2024

Community Contributed
Clare Gallagher, PhD Student, Environmental Studies

On a hot summer day in 2022, Jasmine Buerano found herself on a remote coastline of Molokai, hacking away at a 1,000-pound bluish-gray fishing net that smelled like seawater.

Buerano, the storytelling coordinator for the non-profit Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii (SCH), along with 15 other volunteers, couldn’t gawk for long. They were racing the tide.

They tackled the huge net in sections to put into “super sacks,” which would be scooped up by a helicopter the next day. But in addition to consolidating the net and other plastic trash, they had to move the sacks across rocky tidal pools, up a steep embankment, and above the high tide line so that the sacks wouldn’t be taken back out to sea later.…

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Proposal Would Change Ocean Monument to Sanctuary

Wednesday, May 1st, 2024

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is proposing a change for the already existing Papahanaumokuakea National Monument to a national marine sanctuary.

The two are created under different federal laws, and have differences in management. National marine sanctuaries are designated under the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, while marine national monuments are established under the Antiquities Act, according to NOAA.

National marine sanctuaries are managed by NOAA through its Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, and in some cases, in partnership with state governments and local communities.
Monuments are managed by multiple government agencies, which may include NOAA, the Department of the Interior, and other federal and state partners.…

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Earth Day 2024

Wednesday, April 24th, 2024

Earth Day 2024

“I really like the international Earth Day slogan that says, ‘think globally, act locally,’” said Ed Misaki, one of the recipients of this year’s Malama Kuleana Honua Award. Misaki and the other founding members of the Molokai Cares organization, who started Molokai’s version of Earth Day back in 1992, were honored with the award.

Molokai Cares launched the Earth Day celebration along with other initiatives, like establishing the recycling center at the landfill and stopping the building of a parking lot in front of the public library. Several years after Molokai Cares established the event, The Nature Conservancy took over hosting, and moved it from Kaunakakai Elementary School to its present-day iteration at the Mitchell Pauole Center.…

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Lanai Is Getting Subsidized Air Service– What About Molokai?

Wednesday, April 17th, 2024

For the first time, the community of Lanai will be getting subsidized flights through the federal Essential Air Service (EAS) program.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s EAS program was established in 1978 to ensure small or underserved communities maintain adequate transportation to larger hubs. The program offers subsidies, if needed, to air carriers on a per-flight basis.
Lanai and Molokai were determined as EAS airports in 1983 but in the program’s more than 40 years, no airline has requested a subsidy to either island – until now. Both airports have operated under the “basic” EAS program, in which the U.S. DOT holds no contracts with airlines as long as a required level of air service continues to be offered.…

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