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Honolulu Lite
IMAGINE a several-hundred-mile stretch of highway in a deserted part of the western mainland where an endangered desert snail is known to migrate daily. Only a handful of this species of snail exists, hardly enough to satisfy the needs of escargot lovers in your typical French restaurant. Not that these snails would end up on a platter smothered in butter, because they are a federally protected species and, frankly, our make-believe snails are kind of dried out and stringy and don't taste very good. Tuna boats tackle
turtle troublesNow, along this lonely stretch of highway roll giant 18-wheeled trucks, the kind driven by large swarthy men whose livelihoods depend on taking cargo from here to there and from there back to here again. These men, and maybe a few swarthy women, are so focused on getting cargo to their destinations quickly that they have been known to drive for days, rarely stopping their trucks to sleep or even "freshen up." These kinds of guys wouldn't be the most sensitive to the life expectancy of an endangered snail scooting across a highway.
So, after a number of these snails are savagely squished by the 18-wheelers, a federal judge rules that a government observer will be placed in each truck to keep truck drivers from running snails over.
That is sort of what is happening with Hawaii long-line fishermen except we're not talking about snails, but about another endangered species that lives in a shell: turtles. The turtles are a federally protected species and long-line fishermen have been known to accidentally snag them as they troll for tuna.
District Judge David Ezra has ruled a trained observer will have to be on each of the 115 fishing boats that operate out of Hawaii to make sure the turtles are protected.
There are several problems here. One, it assumes endangered species should be protected at any cost. It will cost millions of tax dollars for such preemptive enforcement. Second, the fishermen themselves eventually will be asked to foot the bill for their special passengers.
Proponents of the judge's order say putting an observer on each boat is needed because it's a big ocean out there and there is no other way to police the boats. This sets the usual method of law enforcement on its head. Generally you're presumed innocent until proven guilty. And before you can be put under investigation, government has to have probable cause that you're going to do or did something wrong.
In this case, it is presumed the fishermen will break the law because the area of enforcement is so vast. A taxi driver isn't automatically presumed to rip off customers, requiring a police officer to ride along in his cab. So he has more rights than a fisherman because his business is conducted in a smaller geographic area. (Thus the suggestion that a long-haul trucker is perceived as a threat to an endangered snail might be lumped in with the long-line fisherman school of law enforcement.)
Few people would argue against the need to protect turtles. But there has to be some kind of test done to figure out the fairest way to do that. The fishing industry in Hawaii provides economic and nutritional sustenance to a lot people. The government's damn-the-costs species protection laws put the Hawaii fishing industry on the endangered list.
So, save the whales, save the snails and save the turtles. Tuna --and tuna fisherman -- you're on your own.
Charles Memminger, winner of
National Society of Newspaper Columnists
awards in 1994 and 1992, writes "Honolulu Lite"
Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Write to him at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, 96802
or send E-mail to charley@nomayo.com or
71224.113@compuserve.com.
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