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Fish and game dispute
embroils East Maui
Efforts by Eastside Hui
to combat poaching are seen
as possible domestic terrorism
HANA, Maui » Kema Kanakaole points to a gate at Muolea Point that had been rammed and pulled off its hinges by poachers, which prompted him and other members of his Eastside Hui to patrol the area.
"People in charge are not responding to protect our resources," said Kanakaole, president of the 200-member group. "We feel we cannot wait any longer."
Alleged criminal acts by hui members, including Kanakaole, have fallen under the scrutiny of the police, who have been passing information on to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Maui police intelligence unit is looking for victims connected to unconfirmed incidents, including reports that hunters were threatened at gunpoint and forced to relinquish their game.
Other unconfirmed cases include fishing lines being cut, with poles and catches stolen, coolers ransacked and vehicles damaged.
Police Sgt. Jamie Becraft said detectives are looking at four cases and seeing if there is a connection to "domestic terrorism."
Michael Minn, a businessman in Hana and a hui member, said the allegations are 1 percent true and 99 percent "just rumors" and the group was getting blamed for acts it didn't commit.
Minn said many native Hawaiian families in East Maui who have lived there for generations rely on fishing and hunting to help to put food on the table and that the hui is a grass-roots organization formed to protect resources.
Minn said the problem stems from the state failing to protect the resources because there aren't enough conservation officers in Maui County, much less in Hana, where the lone conservation enforcement officer recently retired.
"We have all these laws, and everybody's breaking the laws at the same time, ripping off our resources," said Minn, who also serves on the state Maui-Lanai Burial Council.
Randy Awo, the Maui branch chief for state conservation enforcement, acknowledged there has been a lack of patrols.
"We can't get out there as often as we'd like because of our staffing situation," Awo said.
Awo said his branch has 10 field positions to patrol four different islands and their surrounding waters, including Maui, which is larger than Oahu. He said the branch is filling five positions, including an enforcement officer post in Hana left vacant by a retirement on Dec. 30.
Awo said he feels the enforcement officers "stand on common ground with the hui as far as protecting resources," but disagrees with the hui's approach to trying to solve the problem.
Kanakaole acknowledged that a hui member recently was placed on probation for petty misdemeanor harassment and criminal property damage in connection with an argument with two divers.
The divers were in a public area in East Maui, and the member called them out of the water and later picked up a stick and damaged a vehicle, police said.
Kanakaole, 39, who lives with his wife and six children in Hana, said the hui advocates nonviolence and has dismissed the member from its organization.
Kanakaole said in the last two months, his group has also changed the wording on signs posted on public and private properties in East Maui to convey a more positive message.
Scores of signs, posted in September, initially told "all outsider (nonresident) hunter, fisher, picker, gatherer and real estate people ... as of now, all resources taken from the Hana District (Keanae to Kaupo) shall be regulated by Eastside Hui."
Kanakaole said the word "regulated" has been changed to "educated."
He said the intent behind the wording of the first sign was done to make the message effective but not meant to terrorize anyone. "I wasn't going to take it beyond that," he said.
Kanakaole, a board member of the Hana Community Association, said he has a message for those who are breaking the law in the name of protecting natural resources: "Stop doing those things. We not going to back you up."
Kanakaole himself is facing a misdemeanor assault charge for an alleged physical confrontation with a real estate agent on a property makai of his home.
His jury trial has been tentatively scheduled in Maui Circuit Court next month, he said.
Kanakaole charged that the real estate agent made inappropriate comments to his sons.
He said he tripped in a pasture as he walked toward the real estate agent, who fell to the ground.
"It was an accident. It was a slow-motion thing. I picked him up. I said I was sorry. By then, he was screaming. I didn't push him," Kanakaole said.
He said the situation with the hui appears to be spiraling out of control to the point where fishing supply stores on Maui are refusing service to him.
His sister, Kaui Kanakaole, who teaches English at Hana High School, said she was upset that police hadn't approached hui members such as herself to clear the group of suspicion.
Kaui and Kema are grandchildren of the late kumu hula Edith Kanakaole, after whom a stadium is named on the Big Island.
Kaui Kanakaole said people outside East Maui don't realize that even if they fish just once a year, when more than a hundred groups conduct the same activity, it significantly depletes the resource.
"It's just having a level of awareness of Hana and how much it's used by the entire island," she said.
Awo said his branch is willing to work with people in the community but will not support those breaking the law.
"We do want to bring healing to the east side as well as the rest of Maui. ... We don't want this to continue," Awo said.
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