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mediated through changes in water quality. And so by monitoring water quality, if we see
<br />something kind of go haywire, that's the first red flag that goes up and says, hey, we might
<br />have a problem, you know, there could be a potential for impact in the marine community. So
<br />that's why the emphasis has been on the water quality aspects of it, in general, for a lot of the
<br />permits.
<br />GALDONES:Okay. Thank you. Commissioners, any questions? Commissioner
<br />Graham.
<br />GRAHAM:Thank you for all that. That's certainly very germane to what we're all
<br />dealing with. Let me try to go with sort of a similar question but from a little bit of a different
<br />angle, but equally or more so general. There's a lot of development going to be happening,
<br />has happened, like that. We do have some really nice coral reef structure here. We have
<br />some pretty healthy reefs. We have a lot of reef fishes and all. I think my commonsense and
<br />probably most people's commonsense is that at some point in the future when this gets built out
<br />really heavily and it looks more like Honolulu or something, whether that's in 30 years or 70
<br />years, I don't know, my commonsense tells me it's very unlikely that we'll see as healthy a
<br />marine environment anywhere close to as healthy as we have now. So that really our mission
<br />is if we see the development moving in that direction, to try to spot what elements, what facets
<br />of the development might be the things that are going to lead us to a place we don't want to be
<br />at. So do you have any insights you can offer with that in mind?
<br />BROCK:Boy, you know how to put me on the spot. Yeah, and actually, you
<br />know, we've seen some change and I -, but not with corals. The change that we've seen, and
<br />this is -, I'm talking quantitative change, I'm not talking just casual observations, the change
<br />we've seen on this coast has been related primarily to your fish communities, and it's, it
<br />appears to be related to over harvest, for the most part. There's some shifts that are occurring
<br />in your marine communities, in your -, and when I say marine, I'm talking the fish
<br />communities, where -. Nothing has disappeared, okay, let me preface my remarks by saying
<br />that, but the average size of a lot of the sought after species is considerably smaller today than
<br />it was 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago. I mean I've been looking at this coast since
<br />about 1970, and there have been some dramatic changes in the abundanbd ne ehrg- @mc Hll mns
<br />in a position to say, oh, it's related to pollution. There isn't anything that supports that.
<br />Because some of our most diverse and high biomass fish communities, meaning lots, high
<br />standing problem, a lot of weight of fish per unit area, occur around our sewer outfalls off
<br />Honolulu. I spend a lot of time out there, too, looking at those. So, you know, and I mean
<br />that's probably -, on one sense, pollution in its kind of worst situation where you're dumping
<br />advanced primary treated wasted. I don't think it's related to that. It appears to be related to
<br />just simple use.
<br />`opihi. I mean for those of us that don't spend a lot of time in the
<br />Look at the abundance of
<br />water, you just look along the shoreline along this coast. Look what's happened to `opihi. If
<br />you've lived here for 30 or 40 years, you know what I'm talking about. If you see them, they're
<br />the size of my thumb nail on a lot of places now. Small kid time, there was choke `opihi, there
<br />was plenty. There's just a lot more use of resources.
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