Hawaii EcoTube: March 2009

About Hawaii EcoTube

Your opportunity to highlight and learn about both positive and negative environmental issues concerning those of us who love Hawaii. The purpose of this site and its associated YouTube Channel is to accumulate photographic and video documentation of short- and long-term instances of natural resources impacts. The intent is to raise awareness through objective documentation of these impacts and occurrences, initiate an honest dialog, and provide a forum for progressive improvements as well as showcase current and ongoing sustainable practices.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH - A Call to Help

Help With The Roi Roundup!!
mailto:roiroundup@gmail.com

For Immediate Release: October 15, 2009
NR09-13
LITTLE FIRE ANT FOUND ON MAUI
HONOLULU — An invasive, stinging ant called the Little Fire Ant (LFA) has been discovered on a farm in Waihee, Maui. At this time, it appears that the ant infestation is confined to a ½-acre area on the farm and the Hawai`i Department of Agriculture (HDOA) is preparing an eradication program. Although this ant species has been on the Big Island since at least 1999, this is the first discovery of the ant on Maui.
LFA are tiny ants, measuring 1/16th inch long, are pale orange in color and move slowly. They can produce painful stings and large red welts and cause blindness in pets. They can build up very large colonies on the ground and in trees and other vegetation and completely overrun a property. They will also freely move into homes..
The following is a chronology of events on Maui:
On October 2, 2009, the HDOA’s entomologist on Maui followed up on a call about ants stinging people on a farm in Waihee. Ant specimens were collected and sent to Honolulu, where the ant was positively identified as LFA, Wasmannia auropunctata, on October 5th.
On October 6th, HDOA’s Maui entomologist and two Plant Quarantine inspectors surveyed Waihee Elementary School, which is located about ¼ mile from the infested farm. No LFA were detected at the school.
From October 7 through the 13th, staff from Honolulu and the Big Island joined the Maui crew to conduct surveys at the infestation site and determined that LFA is confined to about 1/2 acre of the property. Surveys determined that the ant did not occur in the surrounding area, which includes macadamia nut fields and other private lands.
HDOA is working closely with the landowner, who has been cooperating with HDOA to eradicate the ant on that property. HDOA is using a combination of techniques to confine the ants and eradicate them, which involves using two types of ant baits and restricting the movement of infested material off and within the property. Entomologists report that, by the size of the ant colonies, LFA may have been at the site for about one year.
The department is also conducting trace back and trace forward research to determine the original source of the ants and the potential places where it may have been moved.
HDOA has been conducting surveys for this ant throughout Maui, but will increase this effort by training Maui County field crews about this stinging ant and the Maui Invasive Species Committee (MISC) on how to conduct surveys for LFA at high-risk areas on Maui. MISC has received funding from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to conduct these surveys.
Attached is an HDOA Pest Advisory that contains information on LFA and its history in Hawai`i. (Also available on the department’s website at: http://hawaii.gov/hdoa/pi/ppc/npa-1/npa99-02-lfireant.pdf ). This is the only detection of LFA on Maui; however, HDOA would like to request the public’s help in determining if there are other infestations on the island. Suspected LFA or other stinging ants on Maui should be reported to the Maui office of HDOA Plant Quarantine Branch at 873-3962 or to the State’s toll-free PEST HOTLINE at 643-PEST (7378).

HAWAIIAN MONK SEALS
Please report all sightings of Hawaiian monk seals in Maui County to NOAA Fisheries:
Ph# 808-292-2372 or email nicole.davis@noaa.gov
If there is an emergency, please call the 24-hr Marine Mammal Hotline at 1-888-256-9840

MAUI HAWKSBILLS
Join Dawn Patrol!
Help Build/Rebuild Fence

Aloha All,
Not surprisingly, this is still the Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund Hawksbill Recovery Project, now under a new email address. Angie (Volunteer Coordinator) and I (Research Coordinator) will be using this address.
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Cheryl King
Angie Hofmann
http://www.wildhawaii.org/

Hawaii EcoTube

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Saturday, March 14, 2009

KGMB report with footage of Port Royal's coral damage