Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Musings: Call Out

Why, one might ask, would non-fishers who live in Kekaha and Kapaa begin advocating for a marine stewardship area off the Mahaulepu coast?

Well, when you consider that it's Gordon LaBedz, past president of Surfrider, a group staunchly opposed to the proposed dairy there, and Kalasara Setaysha, vice president of the whale advocacy group Kohola Leo, it's easy to connect the dots.
Though Gordon offers this rationale:

We picked the Maha'ulepu marine area because it is very windy and not used very much. Everything about this idea is non governmental. There is NO budget, no enforcement. It is a plan to bring the ocean user community together to see if there is agreement on limiting ourselves. If we can agree on little Maha'ulepu, maybe the idea might spread to other areas.

Southside kupuna Ted Kawahinehelelani Blake, who noted that none of those involved in the effort actually live in Koloa, isn't buying it:

Off the top, this looks like an anti-dairy initiative more than trying to preserve, protect and enhance the fisheries of Mahaʻulepu and Paʻa and the south shore.

This method of action is devious and upsetting. Coming thirteen ahupuaʻa away from his residence to cause pilikia in Koloa is a statement in itself. Reminds me of a line I heard by Val Kilmer in the movie Tequila Sunrise “I donʻt plant weeds in my yard so I can pull them.”

My attention was directed to four points that came to my mind after I read Mr LaBedz' meeting notice and his email thread:
  1. Is there a problem he is aware of here, that residents of Koloa know nothing about or is he just throwing his line out and hoping something bites the hoo?
  2. This is not place based but is driven by someone with poor and little knowledge of our area.
  3. Dumping his kukae in my yard then leaving, BAD MANNERS.
  4. Quote from his email, “We want the most passionate, opinionated fishermen we can find”. Why, cause empty cans make the most noise?

This type of irresponsible blow and go strategy has been going on too long.

Lyn McNutt then weighed in:

Ted pollution wise dairy is bad idea. Watershed already over acceptance levels and doesn't need more shit, so to speak. My parents lived in dairy country and leaks happened all the time. 

More concerned about fact that DLNR and others do not try to do anything about development and water diversions. Far far more pressing issue even for fisheries. Offshore getting stressed and fishers get blamed. Easy group to target but not main cause of declines. Voluntary rules are possible without NOAA inspired Makai Watch. What we gonna watch?  Sedimentation and pollution of reef from upstream pollution runoff from housing developments and lack of fresh water habitat due to water theft?

Though people like Lyn and Adam Asquith love to use inflammatory terms like “water theft” when talking about diversions, such as the recenty vandalized KIUC hydro diversion, the fact is that all the permitted stream diversions on Kauai are perfectly legal. What's odd is that Adam and his followers say nothing about the unpermitted diversions, like, say, the ones that Tom McCloskey created for landscaping purposes mauka of Kealia Kai.

Meanwhile, folks are continuing to take matters into their own hands. Just a few days ago, rocks were piled up to prevent water from flowing into an eastside irrigation ditch — one that is operating under a valid permit. Though no damage was done, farmers had their water flow temporarily disrupted.

As for attempts to stop the proposed dairy with claims it will pollute a “pristine” area at Mahaulepu — one that was cultivated in sugar for more than a century — Blake noted:

I trust the fact that 17 wastewater treatment plants, since the late 1980, with its 110 plus injection wells on the south shore, built from Lawaʻi Beach Resorts to the Hyatt Regency, specifically to handle sewage for all resort development, i.e., hotels, subdivisions,  condos, townhouses and vacation rentals (all marketed and bought by malihini) have added to the bacterial counts on the entire south shore from Mahaʻulepu to Lawaʻi Kai will be discussed in depth too.

I am not convinced, after touring the dairy site three times, armed with questions that were addressed and answered to my satisfaction, that the dairy would wreak havoc on the kahakai like many  assumptions already voiced. No tests has shown any evidence of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides (used by the sugar industry for over 100 years) in Mahaʻulepu Valley and throughout the entire ahupuaʻa of Paʻa and a majority of Weliweli too. As the soil is mostly clay in Mahaʻulepu Valley, one would expect to find evidence of the fertilizers and chem sprays in the ocean though that evidence never surfaced in the reports during the Dairy hysteria.

To prevent an Ag enterprise, on land classified as IAL [important ag lands] would be a “taking” and definitely require legislative action of at least 75% of the sitting legislature. Quite of a precedent for the Hawaiʻi Leg that is sure to be legally challenged by the Big 5.

The dairy, meanwhile, is continuing to slog through the EIS process that activists demanded — even though they rejected the draft EIS that found the dairy would have no impact. 

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

damn, that meeting on the 4th is gonna be ugly.

Anonymous said...

Gordon and Kalasara are peaceful people. It isn't an ugly sort of meeting.

Anonymous said...

yeah yeah, we'll see 11:28am.

Anonymous said...

I hate these people.

Anonymous said...

Fuck the anti's, fuck the feral cats, ... GO DAIRY!

Anonymous said...

3 Dairies on Kauai have FAILED previously so what's makes you think the 4th is going to work?

Anonymous said...

What next?
Time for Billie K and some blalahs to thump some haids.

Anonymous said...

This area is one of the favorites of local divers during the winter season. No tell us we cannot dive there.

Anonymous said...

"Their messaging follows a typical pattern: they claim a scientific consensus on GMO safety and attack people calling for transparency and safety as outsiders who are killing the “Aloha spirit” of the Islands."

Anonymous said...

Slavery was once "completely legal" and "permitted" as well. So what? Why does Joan always take the side of the oppressor conveniently overlooking the illegal takeover of Hawaii. If she could name even 1 Hawaiian sovereignty activist she supports I would be flabbergasted!

Anonymous said...

It's just another ploy by transplants to try and overtake our lands...THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY!! Do they pay the land tax? No !! How would they like it if we go in their back yard and tell them what they can and cannot do!! Everything they have brought up has been proven wrong!! It's just another way to get to the dairy and get unlimited access to that area!!

Anonymous said...

Let me see if I have this correct. Environmentalist groups Surfrider and Friends of Mahaulepu who are targeting the proposed dairy are grasping at straws to shut down the operation call on DOH to regulate waterways. DOH finally acts due to pressure from the Fed. Consequence of people focused on their political agenda: locals (for now) temporarily loose vehicular access for a few months to beaches and fishing areas, can still go but you gotta hoof it. NOW YOU ARE TELLING ME THEY WANT TO PUSH PERMANENT "VOLUNTARY" REGULATION OF ALL RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES! These activists are bat shit crazy if they think they are going to get anyone but their own like minded friends to buy into this shit. It will hit the fan and I hope it flies right in their faces!

Anonymous said...

@7:43, you are obviously malahini or young, because Joan has reported on sovereignty efforts for years. Try google at all of her reporting on OHA, Bumpy, Henry Noa and even Dayne Gonsalves.

Anonymous said...

Wonder how many cattle/cows are on the island? as compared to what the Dairy will have. There is hardly any complaints about he number of cattle/cows on the island. The complaints are only against the dairy cows that aren't there. All these folks do is sit and conspire....get a real job. work a few days in the corn fields and really get a feel of work.

Anonymous said...

These idiots are going certainly going to a good dose of "passionate" fisherman to show up. I don't think it will be the kind of passion they are expecting however. Here is hoping the Kapuna and the ex surf rider transplant get what they deserve. I hope someone will film it when the shit hits the fan.

Anonymous said...

If you did even the slightest amount of research you could find out how this dairy is a completely different kind of dairy from those that used to exist on Kauai.

Anonymous said...

The applied process is still the same because they still have to get it processed on Oahu then ship it back to Kauai and most the product (milk) won't be even sold here on Kauai so if you do the research then you would find out that all 3 dairies prior did the same then bellied up in the red and left.

Anonymous said...

Locals of south kauai are gagging over "kupuna" Blake's tirade against outsiders telling us what's best for the people of the south shore. The haole word for guys like Blake is HYPOCRITE.

Anonymous said...

@9:19 you are obviously malahini or young, because Joan has reported on sovereignty efforts for years. Try google at all of her reporting on OHA, Bumpy, Henry Noa and even Dayne Gonsalves.

I believe 7:43 said "supported" no "reported".

Anonymous said...

I have never used the word "flabbergasted" in a sentence in my life. I know what it means. We all do.
We don't use that word. It doesn't flow right. That is a mainland word.

Anonymous said...

Actually I believe the diversion that feeds the Mccluskey's and a few farmers downhill is on the Anahola River which is on DHHL land owned by the DHHL.

Anonymous said...

Hope the divers and fisherman give some dirty lickings to these Richie rich a55hole transplants. Dairy issue is separate and needs to be evaluated on its own merits.

Anonymous said...

@5:48 I have never used the word "flabbergasted" in a sentence in my life. I know what it means. We all do.
We don't use that word. It doesn't flow right. That is a mainland word.

A mainland word? Quit gaslighting us. All english words are mainland words so no mak a u bugga.

Anonymous said...

Blake is right. Outsiders coming into your neighborhood, your town, your street, pitching plans without consensus from residents first, fans suspicion and resentment. What LaBedz and friend are doing is not as sinister as Blake claims. What they want is to explore the idea of establishing a informal no catch zone at Mahaulepu, paralleling what north shore Hawaiians have done at Haena. There is no connection to the anti dairy movement. Suggesting that there is, without evidence, does nothing more than fan the flame of anger and more divisiveness; something a real kupuna would never do. Agree or disagree over the merits of the fishing plan. Leave the other opala out.

Anonymous said...

8:37 you must think we're stupid. The whole voluntary preserve thing is merely a small step to get people thinking and then government acting to make a legal preserve so that then the anti-ag malahini can get more gov action to stop any amount of pollutants which will by then be blamed entirely on the dairy.

Anonymous said...

10/26 @ 9:32 PM, what is the source of your quote? And what, exactly, are you trying to convey? Currently there is a much stronger consensus within the scientific community on the safety of "GMO" foods, then there is for the theory of evolution. And as Joan Conrow, Joni Kamiya, and others have demonstrated (using screenshots of what the anti-GMO folks have themselves posted), the anti-GMO crowd is divisive, aggressive, rude, and anti-aloha; as well as funded and driven by mainland interests. Plus, the anti-GMO folks have failed to demonstrate a lack of transparency and safety in GMO crops as well as in conventional agriculture. If you have documentation that shows otherwise, then provide it.

Anonymous said...

@ 8:37 AM "There is no connection to the anti-dairy movement." Wow, that statement is full of shit. Carl Berg of surfrider started testing Waiopili water in his garage only when they found out about the plans for the dairy in order to build a case against. He implies that he's been testing for years all over the Garbage Isle more like maybe a year and a half to two years. He states on surfrider's site that "More recently we discovered that Waiopili Stream at Mahaulepu is 10 times more polluted with feces than the others above.". Labedz tags that he is representing surfrider in promoting this voluntary no catch zone. 9:08 AM is 100% right. Let me be clear Haole is a mindset not a skin color but these Haoles prefer concrete and people over open spaces and AG.

Anonymous said...

SurfRider is just a Greenpeace wannabe. Ran into Carl Berg years ago when he claimed that a sugarcane factory should be shutdown that day because its plume violated clean air opacity regulations. It was funny because he only guessed and was not in position to make the reading. He also was not certified to make the reading. That's the trouble with Berg. He makes statements which he is not qualified to make.

"Solution to pollution is dilution". All this stink about the pollution at Mahaulepu is sheer nonsense. EPA pollution laws apply to continental USA where rivers, estuaries, bays, ponds, lakes, etc. exist. We are situated in the middle of the Pacific where this organic pollution can be easily diluted. Besides that, all alleged polluted sources are excellent areas to fish because they provide organic food to the microscopic flora and fauna to be consumed by larger fish.

One hears so much about the "precautionary principle". It should be applied to any water source meeting the ocean.

Anonymous said...

Ag land to a person in business to sell land is "lose money" land. On the other hand, real property can be turned over and over for "make money". The person in business to sell land is happier with real property. Send out the dogs to fight the ag land, shut them down and later on turn it to something other than ag land and sell sell sell. Give the dairy a chance. If can can. If no can no can.