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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Nonnative fish do not
benefit island streamsQuestion: Is anyone able and willing to remind our community once again that good ecology helps us all? Two people were in Nuuanu Stream on Memorial Day with buckets, sticks and round nets, whacking and hacking thousands of half-inch to one-inch fish hatchlings. I'd watch these little creatures bravely stay their course against the stream of the edges of the water. Not only tilapia but other fish nurture there. The day before, huge nets were cast to catch grown fish in spite of pollution warnings.
Answer: It will surprise you that the fish you probably are describing -- such as mosquito fish and tilapia -- are actually not good for Hawaii's ecology.
And the problem is not that people are catching those fish, but that they keep dumping nonnative species into the streams and waterways, said Glenn Higashi, an aquatic biologist with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources' Aquatics Resources Division.
There probably is a less violent way of catching the fish, but if they're what Higashi thinks they are, the state doesn't want them there in the first place.
There are state regulations regarding catching the native o'opu and hinana (baby o'opu) -- basically you can't use hand nets and traps to catch them and you're not supposed to sell them -- but, there are none for tilapia, mosquito fish and the like, Higashi said.
The biggest concern of the Aquatics Resources Division is that people don't release nonnative fish into state waters, because they then "become established and affect the ecosystem, affect the native species," he said.
That's why educating the public about what is native and what isn't is so important.
People, particularly on Oahu, who have grown up seeing crayfish, guppies, mosquito fish and tilapia in the streams "think, well, that's what they grew up with, so that's native," Higashi said. But those are actually introduced species that became established.
Unfortunately, eliminating the introduced species is an impossible task, he said. "They keep multiplying."
He pointed to the problem in the Wahiawa Reservoir (Lake Wilson), in which the nonnative salvinia molesta completely covered the water. That is "a prime example of what can happen, what does happen," when a nonnative species takes over, he said.
Most of the salvinia is now gone, and officials are looking to eradicate it from the reservoir. But, it just takes one leaf for the plant to again overtake the lake, Higashi said.
If you still have concerns about what is being caught in Nuuanu Stream, call the Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement at 587-0077.
Q: I have a number of business suits that I no longer need or wear. I'd like to donate them to some organization that helps men who are looking for jobs as far as interviewing and having something appropriate to wear. I know there is some organization in town that helps women; is there one for men?
A: Although we do know about the Dress for Success Program for women, at the YWCA of Oahu, we could not find a comparable organization for men. If anyone does, please call Kokua Line at 529-4773, and leave a message.
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Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line,
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