2007-07-06 TPACIFIC - Laserfiche WebLink

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MOOERS:On the background report and recommendation were in complete accordance with the Department and believe that the conditions as recommended adequately address the concerns that need to be addressed, particularly in relationship to the pond and pond management. I would like to point out that we do have in addition to the people that are table, Dr. Bob Rechtman who did the archaeology and cultural assessment for site; and Dr. Ron Terry did the botanical and pond site, so hell be able to talk about Army Corps issues and the biology of the ponds. So hopefully we have everybody here necessary to address the concerns that may be raised. I would like to point out that obviously the key elements of this application is the significance of this pond; and we spent considerable time discovering when the pond was created, how that property has been used since the pond was created in the late 1920s, what was taking place on the property. We have worked with the Army Corps of Engineers on what is proposed to be done with the property, and we feel very confident that we can address all the issues that you folks may have today. So if Im not able to answer the question, I think we have people here who can. WATANABE:Thank you. Do we have any questions of the applicant? Commissioner Siracusa. SIRACUSA:Thank you. There was one thing I found a little bit confusing when I was reading about the pond. First of all, theres a smaller pond and then theres a larger pond, and although they are connected, yeah, theres a difference in water salinity. And yet I understand that theres an awful lot of sediment on the bottom which is blocking, its keeping them from being anchialine ponds. Is there no underground connection to the ocean, or has that sediment, is the sediment blocking connections to the ocean completely, or, and do you folks intend to remove the sediment so that the ponds can flush out naturally? Is that part of the plan? Could you give us a little bit more background on that whole issue, please. TERRY:Yes, Id be happy to. There are a couple of questions in there. Ill try and meet them all. I want to also make it clear that Dr. Ron England whos not here today, hes in Tahiti doing work from the Bishop Museum, is the one who did the pond work. Hes a specialist in aquatic biology; and Ron could probably answer your questions a lot better. But this Ron, Ron Terry, will attempt to do that. The differences in salinity probably are due to the fact that the ponds arent directly connected, except at a really high tide, and the sediment at the bottom as you observed. Theres a very large plug of sediment at the bottom. It was bigger before. The ponds were cleaned out under an SMA permit, which I dont know if it was mentioned in here. It was obtained several years ago just to do that. And they took out a lot of vegetation; and from what I understand many tons, over ten tons of garbage out of the ponds. And that obviously influenced the biology, the water quality, the chemistry, the circulation. But the pond exhibits are a very rapid response to the tides. It rises and falls with the tide. Its basically fresh water, a little bit of salinity; but it does move very quickly through the sides; and to some degree through the bottom as well, especially where the sediment hasnt plugged it up too badly. The plan for restoration is to remove most of that sediment and make the water much clearer. Right now it has got really only one fish, mosquito fish. And before, I understand, it had snapper. Our aquatic biologist recommends that we use milk fish and mullet and not tilapia. And so the plan will include those species. But its going to take a lot of work getting the sediment out and also 4EXHIBIT A