State officials will meet next week with some tenants of the Hawaiʻi Ocean Science and Technology Park in Kona to discuss lingering problems with water quality amid a pending lawsuit against the state.
The Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaiʻi Authority delivers ocean water to HOST Park tenants, including companies that raise oysters, shrimp and other seafood.
But since 2021, the water has led to lower survival rates for larvae of those species.
The water quality issues led to the formation of the Keahole Point Larval Group, a coalition of hatcheries at the HOST Park hoping to figure out what was going on.
NELHA contracted scientist and aquaculture expert Jim Wyban to study the issue and make recommendations to address it, which he did last year.
“There's been some progress made," he told HPR recently. "The NELHA administration took the recommendations of my report quite seriously and initiated some activities that were specific recommendations in the report … and that's been really good and has made some progress, but hasn't (solved) the problem 100%."
Wyban said that it’s not yet clear what the issue is, but that it’s unlikely pollution is causing the issue. He said it’s probably related to biofouling, or the growth of unwanted species — and bacteria — in the pipes that deliver water from the ocean to the park.
In its latest newsletter, NELHA said it’s doing some tests to determine the cause of the dropping larval survival rates.
One test measures dissolved gas, metals, pesticides, herbicides and petroleum hydrocarbons to “more fully understand and characterize the quality of our surface and deep seawater being delivered to clients.”
NELHA is also taking samples from different locations, including the intake pipes and directly from the ocean, for “toxicity tests” to “pinpoint the source of the water” having an impact on larval survival rates.
The water problem is likely to cost millions of dollars in lost revenue for tenants — and has led to a lawsuit against NELHA and other state agencies.
One of the tenants, Keahole Point Hatcheries, better known as Blue Ocean Mariculture, filed the complaint in May, arguing that the state breached a contract with the company to provide “pristine” seawater to its tenants, and that it’s violating its obligation to protect environmental sources.
Blue Ocean Mariculture, in a written statement provided by its attorneys, said, “Persistent water quality problems continue to disrupt Blue Ocean Mariculture’s operations and limit the broader impact it is able to make. … Because these water quality issues affect the earliest stage of the mariculture process, we can ensure a safe product for consumers, but the scale of production has been dramatically impacted, causing significant financial losses and forcing costly water quality interventions.”
The company wants the state to immediately stop operations of the impacted HOST Park pipeline to resolve the issue. It also seeks compensation for damages caused by the alleged breach of contract, as well as a written notice from the state Board of Land and Natural Resources demanding that NELHA resolve the water issue within 60 days.
The Keahole Point Larval Group and state officials will meet about the ongoing testing next week.
