Molokai residents have won approval from the state to temporarily stop the shipment of plants and other materials to the island to protect it from the invasive coconut rhinoceros beetle.
The Hawaii Board of Agriculture and Biosecurity on Tuesday voted unanimously to pass an interim rule prohibiting the transport of plants, soil, compost and other host material — including gravel and erosion socks — to Molokai from other parts of the state.
It’s a measure intended to protect Molokai, the last populated island in the state yet to detect the palm-destroying pests on its shores.
Kunani and Ipo Nihipali of Niu Now Molokai, who first filed a petition for the rule in July, were pleased to learn of the decision.
Kunani Nihipali called it a historic moment, and a vital “last stand” against the disastrous beetles to protect the island’s coconut groves.
“In one respect, we can help ourselves by getting the state to intercede and placing a prohibition on it,” he said, “but at the same time, now we need to fill that void.”
The community stepped up to support this interim rule, he said, but now has plenty of work ahead to make sure it’s followed to protect Molokai, and for the community to remain self-sustainable.
“We have to lokahi, get together now,” he said, “and say, OK, how are we going to provide the plants, the gravel, our community needs?”
The vote followed two hours of testimony, debate over which version of the rule to approve, as well as whether gravel should be among the prohibited items.
Supporters of the rule said the beetles — which were detected for the first time among plants shipped to Lanai over the summer — are now so widespread that it’s become an emergency requiring action before it’s too late.
Last month, the board advanced the petition for review by the Advisory Committee on Plants and Animals, requesting its recommendations be ready for a vote at Tuesday’s meeting.
At the time, Jonathan Ho, DAB’s plant quarantine branch manager, had said the interim rule would reduce the risk of introduction of CRB to Molokai but would not prevent it. He also said the measure would be precedent-setting and more restrictive than necessary.
The PQB staff had suggested to the advisory committee that imports of plant materials from certain other islands to Molokai still be allowed, with a permit.
But environmental advocates, such as Sierra Club Hawaii, said repeated introductions of CRB have been occurring on other islands despite an existing permitting program for Oahu exports.
The Sierra Club opposed these watered-down rules, saying, “Molokai needs a total, temporary ban on CRB host material imports, while longer-term solutions are developed and implemented.”
“Any less,” the nonprofit said, “could result in irreversible and devastating consequences for the island.”
The advisory committee unanimously determined there was an emergency requiring an interim rule, according to Ho, and suggested it include a “severability clause” to protect the contract should any part of it be unconstitutional.
Prior to Tuesday’s meeting, more than 1,500 people signed an online petition showing their support for the interim rule to protect Molokai.
Some say officials should have been more meticulous before CRB ended up spreading to other islands, and that they have seen the devastation firsthand on Oahu.
The coconut, or niu, is important not only for self-sustenance and food security, but to Hawaiian culture and identity. Molokai is home to to a wide variety of coconut species, as well as the Kapuaiwa Coconut Grove planted by King Kamehameha V in the 1860s.
Wayne Tanaka, director of Sierra Club Hawaii, said to have the board adopt “such an unprecedented measure in such a quick time frame is absolutely historic” and a “testament to the unity and tenacity of Molokai’s people when it comes to protecting their home and their way of life.”
“Now, thanks to the outpouring of public support that led to today’s decision, Molokai has a fighting chance to get ahead of the devastation that CRB has wrought upon too many other places in Hawaii,” he said in a statement. “Of course, this is just the first line of defense in the effort to keep Molokai CRB-free. Just as people from Molokai and throughout Hawaii came together to support the Nihipali ohana’s proposal, we must now work together to ensure that these rules are honored, respected, and enforced if necessary.”
CRB were first discovered in tree trimmings near a golf course at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in December 2013 and had only been found on Oahu for about a decade.
In 2023, the beetles spread to neighbor islands, and were detected on Kauai, West Hawaii island and Maui, but had not been reported on Lanai or Molokai.
On Oahu, the beetles already have devastated hundreds of palms — from the leeward to the windward side — and on much of the North Shore.
Source: The Garden Island
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