Kona To Maui

Mission accomplished (for now) in Kona. After a week of meetings, discussions, and planning, our Kailua-Kona stakeholders agreed on provisional topic areas in which to create standards for marine tourism on the Big Island: Scuba, Snorkeling, Boating (including jet skis and boat operations around cetaceans and turtles), Marine Life Viewing (including human interactions with cetaceans, turtles, sharks, mantas, and wildlife feeding), and Beachfront Activities (including surfing and other walk-in activities.) Phew! This is only the beginning of an 18 month process, but it was exciting and the stakeholders were inspiring.

Liz and I packed like maniacs last night and hopped on an Island Air flight to the Valley Isle of Maui early this morning. We left the Big Island enshrouded in vog for a 20 minute jump to Kahului, Maui. En route, we flew over the island of Kahoʻolawe. With a total area of 44.6 square miles, Kahoʻolawe is the smallest of the 8 main volcanic islands in the Hawaiian Islands. It's located 7 miles southwest of Maui and southeast of Lānaʻi and is 11 miles long by 6 miles across.

Kahoʻolawe holds great cultural significance to indigenous Hawaiians. While it appears unlikely that humans inhabited the island due to a lack of fresh water, stone platforms for religious ceremonies and carved petroglyphs in the flat surfaces of rocks have been found there. Recognizing its deep historical significance, the US government exercised typical cultural sensitivity of its indigenous people by bombing the shit out of Kahoʻolawe and conducted live-fire training there almost continuously from 1941 till 1990.

In 1993, Hawaii Senator Daniel K. Inouye sponsored Title X of the Fiscal Year 1994 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, directing that the United States convey Kahoʻolawe and its surrounding waters to the State of Hawaii. Title X also established the objective of a “clearance or removal of unexploded ordnance” and environmental restoration of the island, to provide “meaningful safe use of the island for appropriate cultural, historical, archaeological, and educational purposes, as determined by the State of Hawaii.” Later that same year, the Hawaii State Legislature established the Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve, consisting of "the entire island and its surrounding ocean waters in a two mile radius from the shore". By State Law, Kahoʻolawe and its waters can only be used for Native Hawaiian cultural, spiritual and subsistence purposes; fishing; environmental restoration; historic preservation; and education. Commercial uses are now strictly prohibited.