Hawaii EcoTube: June 2009

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The end of Shark Fin Soup at Kirin - Waikaloa Village, Hawaii Island!!!

This letter was posted this morning to Our Facebook Fan Page. It appears we have a victory in the No Shark Fin Soup front. The posted letter seems to indicate (from the manager) that Hilton's Waikaloa Village restaurant - Kirin is removing the item from their menu!!!! Congratulations and thanks to all that sent in their letters - this is all about you!!!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Tracking the No Shark Fin Progress on Hawai'i Island

Check out what your concern is starting!!! Keep It up!

The Initial Letter -
I read your good letter on "sustainability". But did you
realize your Hilton Waikoloa Village [Hawaii]has shark fin
as a food item on its menu? Cutting fins off and dumping
live sharks is horrible and is depleting our oceans of these
vital predators. This menu info is going out world-wide on
the internet and will turn people off Hilton Hotels. Please
tell me you are ending it! thank you!.

The Response -
Thank you for contacting the Hilton Internet Contact
Center. It is my pleasure to assist you today with your
concerns.
We are terribly sorry for what you saw on the internet
regarding shark fins served at the Waikoloa
Village and have taken the liberty of forwarding your
email to the Guest Relations department at the Hilton
Corporate office for further review and follow up.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

What's the facebook buzz on shark fin soup in Hawaii?

The recent post on shark fin soup sightings generated a lot of buzz in the local community, here on our main site, and definitely on facebook. Here are some screenshots (click on the images to open larger version in a new window):

from CORAL's Fan Page:

from the Friend Page (we are phasing this one out...become a fan instead):

and finally from Hawaii EcoTube's Fan Page :

Feel free to send in your own facebook screenshots of any Hawaii EcoTube-related dialog! Email us at hawaiiecotube@gmail.com

Helping You Help Us!

Hi Everyone! Thanks for all the positive support so far, especially on facebook! We'd like to start a dialog about how we can make this site more user-friendly, and promote interactive dialogs here. We have adjusted the Blogger comment settings to hopefully make it easier to post your thoughts and responses. Now if you could let us know if this is effective, or if you have any other suggestions, please let us know by clicking on the "comment" section below this post.
We want this site to grow into a community, and what becomes of Hawaii EcoTube is entirely dependent on what You, the user, submits and contributes.

Hawaii EcoTube accepting June EcoHero nominations through the end of this week!

Send in your nominations now by emailing us at hawaiiecotube@gmail.com. Next week we'll post a poll so you vote!

We'd like to congratulate last month's winner, Robin Bond, Jr, who received the most votes!

We would like to applaud his efforts and will be sending in a letter of Thanks via local newspapers, and we encourage others to think outside the box as Robin has done to seek solutions to that which concerns us!

Stay tuned for another exciting announcement from Hawaii EcoTube!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Shark Fin Soup on Hawaii Island

We just received this link to the menu from the restaurant Kirin, which is at the Hilton Waikoloa Village. There is a "Shark's Fin" category on the menu.

Here is a link to the hotel's online contact form.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

More Nominations - Kihei Charter School's Honu Heroes

The Honu Heroes are students from the Kihei Charter School, Middle School STEM Academy (Science, Technology, Engineering/Environment, Math). While being led by their teacher, Peg Temple, and others, to increase their research opportunities, they became engrossed with helping honu (green sea turtles). Their goal is to work together to help clean our environment and improve the health of the turtles.

Check out the link below for more info - -

http://www.mauiweekly.com/2008/06/26/honu_heroes/

Kihei Charter School's Honu Heros

June EcoHero Nominations are coming in!

I wish to nominate Liz Foote. This wonderful person works tirelessly to save Hawaii's reefs and their inhabitants. I simply cannot think anyone who is more deserving.
Katie Grove-Velasquez
Kihei

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Shark Fin Soup on Maui? Really?

http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/519204.html?nav=18

Letter to the Editor (Maui News) posted by one of our followers.

Island restaurants play role in the destruction of sharks by Katie Grove-Velasquez

Update:
from the facebook buzz, here's a list of other restaurants in Hawai'i that readers reported have shark fin soup on the menu:
Dragon Dragon, Kahului Maui
China Boat, Kahana Maui

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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cheryl King
Angie Hofmann
http://www.wildhawaii.org/

Email us your submissions!