The state Board of Agriculture and Biosecurity unanimously supported a Molokaʻi community initiative to protect the island. They voted to advance a temporary emergency rule that would prohibit the import of planting materials known to be carriers of the coconut rhinoceros beetle.
“All the islands already have it, except Molokaʻi. So how do we protect Molokaʻi, now?” asked board member James Gomes of Maui, calling for immediate action.
On Tuesday, the board heard a petition from Molokaʻi residents Kunani and Ipo Nihipali. They begged for support of a one-year rule to ban the transport of plants, soil, mulch, compost and other organic landscaping materials staged or stored elsewhere in Hawaiʻi, that can harbor the devastating pest. It would not affect treated lumber or plant products for consumption.
CRB is making its way across the islands, killing coconut trees in its wake. CRB is also known to attack other food crops like papaya, banana and kalo, along with culturally significant native species such as hala and loulu.
“In our recorded history, our lives depend on niu [coconut],” Kunani Nihipali told board members. “It is our tree of life, from childbirth to adulthood. Niu has supported and connected native people with our ancestral lands as a symbol of abundance, unity, fertility, and it assures us well-being with its nutritional and traditional medicinal properties."
"It's a sacred plant. It's part of our lifestyle. It's in our diet, it's sustenance, it's shelter, it's materials and ceremonial needs, and most of all, it's for us on Molokaʻi, in particular, food security.”
As of Thursday, an online petition for the ban had garnered more than 1,000 signatures.
In urging immediate action, state Sen. Lynn DeCoite of Molokaʻi told board members she believes there’s widespread community support for the proposal.
“Just about every invasive species that has hit us, you know, we always reactive, and the reactive is what has cost us, instead of the proactive.”
Jonathan Ho, manager of the Plant Quarantine Branch, spoke at the meeting. “Since 2013, CRB has been detected pretty much throughout the state, with the exception of Molokaʻi.”
He called the island’s request “precedent-setting” because regulations normally apply to movements from infested areas to non-infested areas.
"You do not normally prohibit from areas that are non-infested to non-infested. We've never done that before," he said.
For state Rep. Mahina Poepoe of Molokaʻi, that’s part of what makes the petition important.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the board to protect an entire island from CRB,” she said. “And this opportunity is priceless, it's fleeting. And if this sets precedent, then let's set the precedent. There's nothing wrong with taking bold action.”
Barbara Kalipi was one of the many residents testifying in support of the petition.
“The threat of the CRB is very real for us,” Kalipi said. “Molokaʻi has always had a subsistence economy that's very much a part of our economic stability.”
Molokaʻi resident Lori Buchanan, the coordinator of the Moloka’i Invasive Species Committee, said, “We have hundreds of thousands of coconut trees on Molokaʻi, and the threat is just outrageous if we lose all of that."
Buchanan told HPR that current agricultural inspections on other islands have been shown not to be foolproof in the detection of CRB. And Molokaʻi does not have any agricultural inspection staff on-island to check incoming materials.
“The interim rule is asking to stop everything for one year while we try to figure it out, because there's no good control methods for CRB – none,” Buchanan said. “And the pesticides that they using now that they think are effective, would not be usable for trees that were for consumption.”
The Nihipalis submitted their petition at the end of July, and based on a 30-day response requirement, Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity staff issued a “procedural denial letter” to the petition prior to this week’s meeting, Ho said.
Staff recommended denial based on the proposed rules being “more restrictive than necessary,” while suggesting that a community meeting be held for additional input, and proposing that similar regulations be implemented for the rest of the state at the same time.
But board members and testifiers argued that implementing these actions would only lengthen the process and delay more immediate protections for Molokaʻi.
The petition drew overwhelming support not only from Molokaʻi testifiers but communities across Hawaiʻi, particularly those already infested with the beetle.
Board of Agriculture members echoed the sentiment, advancing the proposal to the Advisory Committee on Plants and Animals for a recommendation. The board will vote on whether or not to pass the rule into law at their next meeting on Sept. 23 – though many community members feel that’s not soon enough.
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