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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023_05_16 Game Management Advisory Commission Minutes Game Management Advisory Commission County of Hawai’i Minutes – DRAFT 1 Meeting Date: May 16, 2023 Time: 9:00 am to 11:00 pm Place: Zoom and In-Person site - 25 Aupuni Ctr., Ste. #1501, Hilo HI 96720 th AA: Good Morning. Meeting called to order at 9:00 am. Welcome to May 16 Game Management Advisory Commission meeting. Just quick housekeeping - make sure the ones on Zoom stays on Zoom. Please put your cell phones on silent. Any members from the public, if you guys have any questions – write it down in the chat. Roll Call, please. 1. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL: District 1 - Robert Duerr, present, in person District 2 – Vacant District 3 – Rhon Leomana Turalde, Via Zoom District 4 – Brian Ley – Excused District 5 - Abraham Antonio, Present, in person District 6 – Austin Griffey, Present, via Zoom District 7 – Natalie Reynolds, Present, via Zoom District 8 – Cortney Okumura – Present via Zoom District 9 - Vacant Quorum Established with 6 in attendance. STAFF: Diana Mellon-Lacey, Deputy Attorney, Corporation Counsel – in person Sylvia Wan, Deputy Attorney, Corporation Counsel - excused Barbara Kossow, Administrative Specialist – via Zoom 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Action: Motion made by L. Turalde to approve the April 18, 2023 minutes as circulated. Seconded by R. Duerr. Motion carried by poll vote with 6 ayes, no nays. 3. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: None 4. COMMISSIONER REPORT BY DISTRICT: AA: Commissioner Reports by District. District – 1, Robert Duerr? RD: District – 1: No report. Basically, Wailoa River is moving forward on the 3.2 million dollars appropriated – waiting for the Governor’s signature. Also, I’d like to just go on the record with Abraham - that’s something that you said that fishers may not be aware of is the proposed Division of Aquatic Resources change in rules and regulations to make the commercial license 1 $300.00 per boat, and right now it’s $100 per fisher on the boat, quite frankly what’s happening now is \[unclear\] usually only one license on the boat, which is the captain who sells the license so this will likely get some harsh feedback once it’s out in the public. AA: As far as that license is – isn’t it just for out-of-state residents or… RD: No. That’s commercial. Well, it’s the commercial DAR license which you need to be able to legally sell fish. AA: To sell fish or just to… RD: Yeah, to sell fish. NR: To sell… RD: Yeah… AA: State your name please. NR: Sorry, Natalie, District – 7, it’s to sell fish. AA: Thanks, Natalie. RD: That’s all I have, Abraham. AA: Do you want to put that on next month’s agenda or do you want to create a PIG or create a letter? RD: Maybe actually if we could find somebody from DAR to maybe talk about that. Get a little bit of heads up on just where they are with it. That would be helpful. AA: OK. RD: Thank you. NR: Natalie, District – 7, who’s gonna contact DAR or do you want us to volunteer for it? AA: If you want to contact DAR then that’s fine, Natalie. NR: OK. I’ll do it. AA: Thanks. District – 2, vacant. District – 3, Leomana? LT: Aloha, Leomana, District – 3. So first, I’m getting to the wild animals. The pigs in my district – talks this last month – I was talking to all the young hunters from what is known as the Ocean Plan and the hunters say there’s about an average of 300 wild pigs spotted in District – 3, that’s from Keaukaha all into the back areas of Panaewa – where most of the people go hunting and the wild pigs in Panaewa – down Keaukaha our main fishing village in Hilo – we’re repaving the 2 road for this week and next week – so from King’s Landing all the way to the beginning of Keaukaha is gonna be backed up so that’ gonna be affecting all of our hunters and fishermen going all the way to King’s Landing, in that back area, right by Four Miles, between Four Miles and Puhi Bay there seems to be an unofficial nene habitat being created by the community. We had, there was like four nene that died \[unclear\] and so the Keaukaha community is kinda coming together and trying to figure out how to protect these birds from getting 1) banged by the cars cause they live right on the side of the road in Keaukaha – if you guys \[unclear\] you guys can just see them on top of the road and 2) there’s a lot of mongoose in the area that’s killing the nene at night. I know recently there was a lady trying to kidnap a couple from the pond, so Keaukaha community is trying to protect all the nene cause four of ‘em died. And that’s it for my district report for today, thank you. AA: Ah, District – 5, Abraham. Leomana so all the pig \[unclear\] getting in your district, that’s mainly all on private property though, right? LT: Yeah, that’s all on private property – that’s mostly in Panaewa, you know, all the houses the pigs just run up one day kine and just rip the whole yard apart and then gone. And it’s in Keaukaha as well. AA: So are they talking more use of trappers or just trapping instead of hunting just because, you know, it’s possibly some of the guys out there gathering, they could be caught trespassing or, I mean, it’s good that they’re trying to thin out the herd and stuff but… LT: Um-hum… AA: ….they leave themselves open to some kind of, you know… LT: Yeah… AA: \[Unclear\]. LT: Most of the guys that I was talking to is all the young hunters, the teens and the guys in their early mid-twenties and they don’t really – they’re not really into trappings and so, these guys, I just asked them for like body counts cause they’re all over, so I just, can you guys give me a body count of what animals you see – whenever you guys are doing whatever you do, cause most of the people that I’ve talked to trapping is so hard for them. I mean, even hunting, but it’s still Hilo and, you know, it’s a little easier for them to do what they need to instead of go get the cage, put ‘em in the yard, I guess. AA: OK, well, get other people out there doing ‘em – that’s why I kinda like same – get other people like in South end Hilo, North Hilo area that cover that and even in the upper Puna area and lower Puna area that does it so, at least can kinda like help them out – help out the public, right? As you talk to these younger guys, try promote the hunting license as well. LT: Leomana, District – 3, is this a paid service with the other guys or does the County provide the service? AA: County does not provide a service, DOFAW has a trappers’ list that they can contact DOFAW. 3 And recently, I think thanks to Austin, DOFAW has it on their website now. And that trappers list pretty much covers the whole Island and it has been updated recently as well. LT: OK. I saw the – that’s the one – the recent one – where you got on there too, yeah? AA: Yeah. LT: OK. Right on. AA: OK. District – 4, Brian’s absent, District – 4, is still pushing for the Poiki Boat Ramp – had some movement – they had some funding and I saw something Gregory Ilagan, posted that they lost of the funding or something – you heard anything about that \[unclear\]. Robert? RD: Basically, what the preferred action plan was to dredge the whole bay at a 40-million-dollar quote. They so called have about 5.5 million which would go towards federal – 25% towards federal funds, but it’s still up in the air. AA: OK, so that’s pretty much, well, and then District – 4, still get some diseases with the pigs and stuff like that so, maybe next month I’ll share the pictures of the hunting check in stations around District -4, that was recently put up. District – 5, nothing to report just still trapping pigs, District – 6, Austin? AG: District – 6, Austin Griffey. There have been some pigs still yet with all kinds of different diseases, worms \[unclear\], stuff like that. The Milolii Community Based Subsistence Fishing Area is in effect from Kauna Point to Kipahoehoe area and in that area it’s prohibited for aquatic fishing – to take \[unclear\] female aʻama crab with eggs, opihi, \[unclear\], pakakui, uhu, eleʻele, for uhu-uliuli, to spear uhu at night with any gear-type whatsoever. There’s also seasons in affect over there and bag limits, kole season closes March thru June, from July February bag limit it is 20 per day per person. Minimum size is 5 inches. Uhu, ahaula, or uhu-palukaluka, goes March thru May from \[unclear\] from June to February bag limit is one minimum size 14” – maximum size 20”, other uhu bag limit 3 – only one may be terminal phase. Opihi and opihi- makaʻaiuli and opihi-alenaluna bag limit 1 gallon with shell and uhu is closed April thru June, ula bag limit is 2 for that area. So that’s kind of a small little coastline there that they’re doing it themselves and they’re starting to do it in Hoʻokena as well – they had a meeting last week for that. I don’t have any information on the Hoʻokena one – that’s going to be for next month. Other than that, everything’s the same. AA: Thanks, Austin. LT: Leomana, District – 3. I just had a question for Austin. Austin, the bag limit that last one did you say ula as in lobsters or… AG: Yes. LT: So, the bag limit on lobsters – two? AG: Two in that area. 4 LT: OK. Yeah. And then, one more question is with the uhu I just saw a statement that came out and they’re trying to put the kala on the same cycle that is uhu. Do you know anything about that? AG: I saw that that was for commercial sale is what I was reading. I’m not too sure about as just anybody out going to harvest – I’m not sure what the bag limits are gonna be – but there’s gonna be another meeting on that that they’re gonna share all the details. LT: OK. Right on. Mahalo. AA: Thanks, Leomana. Thanks, Austin. District – 7, Natalie? NR: Natalie, District – 7. Austin, quick question. When is that meeting is gonna be? AG: I don’t. I’ll get more information on it and send it out to you guys. AA: The meeting’s at Honokohau Harbor. Is that meeting pretty soon? NR: OK. AG: That’s the one I sent to you on Instagram. NR: I don’t have Instagram. Can someone take a screen shot and email please? AA: We’ll send it. Do you have any other District Report Natalie? NR: Yeah, really quickly, back to Bob (Robert). I just looked up my folder for commercial fishing for, residents. It’s 100 and for non-residents it’s 250 to commercial fish. My District – we had an issue last week before 10:00 a.m. we had 2 vehicles stolen out at Keauhou – they were pretty, kinda of upset about that. They lost a lot of their fishing gear and everything, other than that it’s pretty quiet – we don’t have any complaints yet about any of the worms or any of the issues inside any of the pigs or cows killed so that’s kind of good on our end, but, yeah, and then the fishing was slow last week so they’re pretty bummed about that. That’s it. AA: Thanks, Natalie. Ah, District – 8, Cortney? CO: Hey everyone, not too much big news going on – I did want to bring attention to a open position that’s available at the Honokohau Harbor for a Boating and Ocean Recreation manager – they’re been looking to fill this position for a very long time and I think they recently raised the salary on it – you do have to have some experience with managing water things so if anyone knows anyone I’m gonna post the link to the job here in the Chat and nothing further to report. Thank you. AA: Thanks, Cortney. RD: Chair, I’ve got a question for Cortney. Is that the District Manager job? CO: It just says Recreation Manager. I’m not sure if it’s the District Manager – let me just see if it says – oh, yeah, it is – the District Branch Chief, yes, yes, so I’ll post that link here for everyone. 5 AA: OK. And then I think Cortney or in Cortney and Natalie’s district – cause coral spawning is happening again this year, what beach was that again? And I think Leomana knows about that one too. CO: Yeah, it’s the Kahaluu Bay Beach – let me just see if I can get the dates, it was – it’s been closed, oh, no, actually it has reopened – it was from May 5- May 12, for the coral spawning. AA: So that Coral Spawning Commission – we had a guest speaker last year come and speak to the Commission about that – last year – so you guys could probably look it up in the minutes, if you guys interested. CO: I can also post another – there’s an article about it – they also take the time to clean up the beach and do restoration, you know, these are volunteers, the County doesn’t cover costs to do repairs so the group via the Kohala Center – The Reef Teachers – usually volunteer to do beach and park restoration during the time of the closure where the coral is able to spawn at that time – so I’ll post a link to that article as well. AA: OK. Thanks. CO: Yup. AA: District – 9? No, I don’t think so. Leomana, do you have a question? \[Unclear\] Communication 2023 – Spring Turkey Hunting Season review by Richard Hoeflinger – so per our Corporation Counsel – did everybody get this Spring Turkey Season Review? Everybody checked it out. 5. COMMUNICATION: 2023 Spring Turkey Hunting Season Review by Richard Hoeflinger: BK: It was emailed to everybody. AA: Yeah. I see heads shaking. Yes. So, we just need to vote to approve it so it can be filed in the GMAC archives, I guess. BK: This is Barbara, it was also uploaded to our Boards and Commission file as well. AA: \[Unclear\] it needed to be approved first though Sylvia was saying. BK: OK. Well, it was part of the meeting packet, so just letting you know. AA: OK. OK. Thanks, so, anybody can make a motion to approve the 2023 Spring Turkey Hunting Season Review? Action: Motion made by A. Griffey to approve the 2023 Spring Turkey Hunting Season Review by Richard Hoeflinger. Seconded by R. Duerr. Motion carried by poll vote with 6 ayes, no nays. 6 AG: Austin Griffey, District – 6, I’d like to make a motion to approve 2023 Spring Turkey Hunting Season Review by Richard Hoeflinger. AA: Need a second. RD: Second. AA: Austin made a motion to approve the Turkey Season Review, um, Robert Duerr made a second, any discussion? RD: Just a note, Chair, Duerr – District 1. I actually had the opportunity to turkey hunt with Dick Hoeflinger and he just wanted to relay to this Commission that he wants to thank DOFAW’s head Steve Bergfeld, Ian Cole, Kanalu Sproat and Josh Ching-Pang for their help in helping him put this together. AA: Any other discussions? Not seeing any, um, all in favor say aye. \[The ayes have it\]. Six ayes, no nays, motion passes, this letter can be filed. LT: \[Unclear\] AA: He (Richard Hoeflinger) does all of our turkey season reviews and also the bird hunting reviews so, thank you, Richard. Now moving on to our presentation. We have Kim Kozuma here from the Department of Agriculture. She’s a Division Manager for the Animal Disease Control Branch. We got her here because Austin had a lot of concerns for the diseases or worms and things that he’s been encountering in his district. We brought DOFAW in before and I reached out to DOFAW and they sent me along and I met Kim so that’s how Kim got here today, so… Take over Kim… 6. PRESENTATION: a. Kim Kozuma, DVM, Animal Disease Control Branch, Hawai’i Department of Agriculture, Presentation Regarding Diseases in Game Animals KK: Right. Well thank you for giving me a promotion along the way. I’m actually just a veterinary… AA: DVM… KK: Yeah, no, no, no, I’m a veterinary medical officer for the Island of Hawaii. So basically, our division is animal industry. It has 3 branches – one is the diagnostic lab, the other is the airport quarantine that a lot of people are familiar with and then what used to be called livestock disease control, which is now animal disease control because we do venture off into shellfish and aquaculture and, um, apparently bees too. So I’m the veterinary medical officer for this Island and, I looked at the topic, diseases that the feral animals can carry and I think because of the limited time and with all the interest in the pigs and the pigs probably being the worst actors of them all because they carry everything, I’m kind of limited to that but I’ll be happy to come back and talk about some of the other diseases that can be spread or carried, and I guess the main things that we worry about – I’ll start from the least to the worst. Of course, your 7 game animals, you know, you sometimes see the worms especially in those back muscles over there. They do pick up parasites – part of what they’re foraging and savaging, you know, they’ll eat other animals and other things – they’ll pick up parasites and a lot of those parasites spend time migrating throughout the body. So, you might see the white milk spots in the liver, um, and then you can also see sometimes the little white spots in the muscle tissue and that right there is a old disease that has been eradicated from our domestic piggery in the United States and that’s trichinosis. So that was the number one reason why people say make sure you cook your pork really well because we’re very similar to pigs and that parasite can be unleashed in us. Tape worms as well too, is another one we have to worry about so basically if you use proper food handling, you should be OK with all that, but, again, that’s the parasite issue right there, um, moving along – there’s a couple of bacterial diseases. One is leptospirosis. Here in Hawaii we have the highest per capita of the United States of human incidences of leptospirosis and I believe that also correlates with animal’s species as well. When I was in private practice in Georgia I saw maybe 2 cases of leptospirosis in the twelve years I was there and it presented in dog ain’t doing right (ADR) and it was kidney failure and the only reason why we picked it up was the dog was there for orthopedic surgery – we did some blood work and low and behold the kidneys were shutting down and, um, we were able to diagnosis it and get back to, oh, by the way the raccoons and squirrels romp on the trees and they’ll go to the bathroom so urinate and that’s how they pick it up. And it was a different zero bar than we’ve even heard of – with the vaccines available for species they do not cross protect so there were several sub-species and here in Hawaii we’ve got sub-species I’ve never even heard of before – and they can infect multiple species – you just don’t know till you get sick, fortunately there are treatments for it. I think the biggest shortfall I see – the hunters – people out in wading through streams, hikers – we need to be advocates for our own health because one thing that I found is in our medical community – not to dis them – but a lot of them maybe didn’t train in tropical areas – maybe in the Mid-West and so quite often I have to tell people – if you have flu-like symptoms, if you’re a hunter, if you’re out in some of the streams that are here and aching joints and your doctor just can’t figure it out, please, please, please demand to be tested for leptospirosis and brucellosis which is another bacterial disease and just advocate for yourself because if either one of those are allowed to be prolonged without proper treatment it can really put a hurting on you and with the leptos over here, ah, when I came back over here we would see it a lot in dogs. A lot of dogs would be drinking out of the stream water or whatever and they’ll become infected and I would say that it also presented differently here in Hawaii, um, about 2/3rds of the dogs would come in with bloody diarrhea would be parvo virus and 1/3 will be lepo and we can still pick that up from their secretions and excretions as well – so those dogs also went into isolation and we had to get on up to make sure that we didn’t expose ourselves. In people it can also cause abortions and in the ones in Hawaii it was more of a liver failure rather than kidney failure and then there were some other SIRA virus that will do both, so that’s kind of a scary one. Open wounds, mucus membranes – a perfect way to pick that up, um, that also goes along with the more serious bacterial one would be brucellosis, and, unfortunately we have and I’ve known people that have personally become infected with it, um, a couple of my veterinarian co- workers have had brucellosis. One even also had lepto. I said, well, which was worse – the lepto or the brucellosis? And he said, definitely the broccolis. Hunters will pick that up by, you know, your field dressing animals if you nick your hands, if you have open wounds, it can be spread through inhalation so,it’s a little bit more unusual but that would affect more – see the people at Kulana that are slaughtering the feral pigs that come through there – we get the blood samples from all the pigs and inevitably we frequently see the wild pigs carrying both leptospirosis and pseudo rabies, and as far as the brucellosis is concerned as the going through 8 the process of cleaning, you’re in a moist atmosphere – things become aerosolized, it’s very high risk for people working at the slaughter house as well and veterinarians and lab workers as well, so, um, again, with brucellosis that can be spread through the urine and all fluids but primarily for farmers and ranchers – animals that are having abortions – how many times, oh, wait, the pigs aborting there’s one stuck let me go reach in and help or let me clean up the placentas – most people don’t wear gloves and that’s the number one way to become infected and that’s how I know one person who became infected. We found that farm on a trace – there was a farmer in one area that had feral pigs comingling with domestic was selling the domestic pigs as breeding stock to several farms and we found three other farms that were infected. One farm had only purchased animals from this one initial farm and the pigs were aborting and that person was dealing with it and became very, very sick. Fortunately, we had made contact through trace we found out some of the places where these pigs were sold to – not all of them – and we told the people – if you see these symptoms, if you have this – please let your doctors know. Every year we test about 25% of our domestic piggeries for both of these diseases, it’s free, um, we talked about biosecurity and um, you know, we try to establish a really good relationship with our pig farmers because they’re eyes on the ground if anything goes there and that lastly leads me to some of the really big scary diseases that are knocking on our door that probably have snuck into the United States periodically but never had a chance to really gain a foothold and I’m talking about things like Classical Swine fever – virus – African Swine Fever – which is really bad – it’s a virus too – and Foot and Mouth disease, um, those are three gnarly ones that we currently do not have in the United States but are only a plane ride away and if you think about it – African Swine Fever – one virus particle is all it takes to spread \[unclear\] disease. This is the disease that China lost half of their pigs from. Hundreds of millions of pigs died and it’s like Ebola for pigs. They get fevers of about 105 to 106 – they start hemorrhaging, um, very, very infectious and that virus particle can survive for a good period of time in the carcass as well and how many people just walking around from maybe their farm in different countries that are respected – you’ve got infection in the Philippines, Vietnam, Korea, China by all means, ah, in Europe as well too – there are more and more countries that are infected by this and if, let’s say, you go back to home country – family lives on a farm or something – you’re over there and you visit, you come back – when you go through the airport there’s’ no such thing as a foot bath there so who’s to say the same shoes you wore on your farm – your boots – you go out to do sweet potato or other farming and then the wild pigs come in and they root around where you just were – you just physically on your body brought that on it. So these are things we have to worry about and, and if you think about it even with the Foot and Mouth outbreak in the UK and when there were other diseases like that in Japan when the tourists would come off the plane there were no foot bathes there. So whereas, when I was in England for the Foot and Mouth outbreak – I flew back into New York –That person became very, very ill a few weeks after the abortions formed and, um, again, it took the doctor a little bit to figure out what was going on and sure enough I kind of figured out it was brucellosis that person was in the ICU and almost died from sepsis. Just be really, really, really, really, careful. Cooking the meat will kill this and it’s safe to eat. Same thing with pigs that are infected with pseudo rabies, which is a virus, pseudo rabies is different from regular rabies, pseudo rabies is a herpes virus so if we can imagine herpes is the gift that keeps on giving once a pig is infected it’s always infected – the offspring are infected. If they’re pregnant at the time, the babies can be born, and the immune system isn’t fully developed yet in early pregnancy and so \[unclear\] to have a herpes virus. So, it won’t even \[unclear\] an immune response – so you can have these carrier asymptomatic pigs spreading this. Again, it causes a lot of abortion in pigs and that’s why we regulate these diseases on Department of Ag because these are diseases that have a high economic impact to 9 the livestock industries and, so, those are disease that we regulate \[unclear\]. I have to go through the Ag declaration line – guy’s sitting on his chair, OK, did you go visit any farms in the UK, blah, blah, blah. Yes. Oh, he got a little interested. Well, what were you there for? I was on the Foot and Mouth Taskforce. He about fell off his chair at this point. Give me your shoes, give me your clothes. \[Unclear\] left is all behind \[unclear\] incinerated and I had to self-quarantine in London for about 5 days before flying back to the United States and then I had to quarantine myself again for going on two farms for another ten days. So, we take it seriously, but I didn’t see evidence of that at the Honolulu Airport. So, again, everything’s a place ride away and like my brother, he goes back to Oregon, he brings the Frank’s Food Portuguese sausage with him – likes the mild – little bit of the hot \[unclear\]. People do the same thing for their country and a lot of meats, especially cured hams out of China – apparently, it’s a real delicacy – these viruses survive in them – they survive that process, and the United States gets tons of contraband meat and meat products entering the country. There’s a Beagle Brigade but if you think about it the amount, of dogs and you cannot to a 100% inspection and so, we try capture all this at borders but again our borders are porous. They’re very porous so we just need to keep an eye on it, and do what we can but it’s really scary – we’re all kind of holding our breath as these diseased spread, because if African Swine Fever gets in to our feral hog population we’ll never get rid of it and we will lose our ability to export to other counties and with Foot and Mouth that will also include the beef, sheep and goat and swine industries as well – so these are multi-billion dollar diseases. Number one way that we can prevent it, I think it’s great restaurant, cafeteria waste, can, the State of Hawaii – there’s 27 states that allow slops swill or garbage feeding of pigs – Hawaiʻi is one of them – but all these states you must be permitted and be inspected at least quarterly and it’s a simple ask – just cook food for half an hour – before you feed it to your pigs and make sure that there’s no cross contamination between the raw slop and the cooked slop and you contain the other animals that get in to it: vermin, flies, mongoose, rats – other animals – and you know that there’s a lot that goes on underground. In 2010 we called all of the food establishments within the State of Hawaiʻi which took about 9 months, and we found several people that were unlicensed, and we would educate not only the business establishments providing that food waste but the swine producers as well. That scared off a lot of people and they just disappeared and went into hiding or they became licensed and, that really helped out – but this is a resource for pig farmers and a way to divert this from going into our landfills but it’s a privilege and there are bad actors out there that are abusing it, say, I’m not gonna cook, you’re from the government, I’m gonna do what I like – and those people scare us, they really do scare us – because right now we’re dealing with some issues and it’s just really sad that we don’t – Department of Ag – doesn’t seem to have the backing or support to really go after those cases. So, it’s really sad and it’s, it’s scary. We’re just vulnerable but I’ll be out there doing my job, again, it’s only me on this entire Island and I have other jobs as well too, like inspecting the livestock planes coming in from Kona, um, dealing with trip down \[?\] in bulls in Kaʻu. Anyway, a whole bunch of different things and disease investigations. But I guess the biggest thing is the pigs with their big tonsils and so many diseases that they can carry that will transmit to us. We really need to look seriously at the inter-action between humans and the wildlife in this particular situation and what are things that we’re doing to make the problems worse and I guess the classic example was if you needed a pig for, you know, a baby luau – just rattle your can at the corner of Mohouli and Komohana – put a little rope down – they’ll all come out – pick which one you want, snatch it up, hog tie put it in the back of the truck and take off. You go shopping for pigs over there because multiple people feed them and there are laws against it but it’s such a Hodge podge/mix match that it’s almost impossible for anybody to enforce. It’s either not our jurisdiction, it’s not a priority, or there’s no backing and then when it’s done on 10 private lands they can become a nightmare, and if you imagine a situation for somebody has no fences and has large acreage and is deliberately dumping food waste out on the ground. I’m in Hawaiian Acres and a common thing is, oh, don’t shoot my pig, don’t trap my pig. Well, then, take your pigs off my property they’re destroying everything, you know, and as soon as you trap them or shoot them then they’re claiming you took my pets and there was a pig that was spray painted PET on this sides – wandering all over Hawaiian Acres and the person looked pissed. I mean, he was ready to throw hands over a trapper trapping this pig that was causing tons of damage – but as soon as the neighbors find out, hey, wait a minute, you’re claiming ownership – I’m gonna sue you for damages – all of a sudden it’s not my pig – it’s wild. So I think enforcing the feeding of feral animals needs to be addressed, you know, in a blanket way and I think the neighbors are videotaping – if you have wild pigs – fine – keep ‘em on your own property but, when people feed and they deliberately attract it does so much more damage and, those are some main areas that we really have to address but when it magnifies the problem with the wild pigs carrying brucellosis and pseudo rabies and now you disrupt their migration – now that they’re being fed they’re having larger litters – they’re sticking around – they’re co-mingling with everybody else and population explodes and I know I’m running over but the last thing is there are well over 6 million pigs in the United States, over 2 million in Texas alone and they have to, slaughter and euthanize, kill – I think it was about 87% of hogs that are there – just to keep the population steady – that’s not even going to make a dent into it. Hawaii, you know, give it another 20 years or so and we’ll be in the same boat. So, we need to come up with a comprehensive plan so we can still hunt the pigs but right now they’re moved down into the subdivisions. People are feeding them and it’s just a real train wreck and we really need a comprehensive approach to deal with it and that will also help to stop spreading disease to our domestic species and to people. AA: Thanks, Kim. At, this time, any question from the Commission. RD: Well, that was awesome… NR: Yeah, that was… RD: ….Robert Duerr. Thank you very much that was really informative. KK: Sorry, it was a lot and I get that – I’m very passionate about it cause I’ve seen people get sick – I’ve seen – I’ve had to… NR: I feel sick right now… KK: You know, part of my job, you know, with a lot of these diseases – once it’s unleashed so many of the animals are infected that you just have to start from scratch and when you take a disease like brucellosis, usually if a piggery becomes infected it’s 80% or more and it’s more cost effective to euthanize everything. And some of these large places that we’ve gone to – you have to dig a huge hole and \[unclear\] is pretty heavy and I just got to the point by the end of the day I could hardly hold it up and I had tendonitis from putting down that many pigs and when we get to that point, I feel like I failed at my job. We should have stopped it before it got to this point and we seem to be doing or more of that now with TB on Molokai, brucellosis has just, it just seems to have really spread. We’ve diagnosed in horses this year and every pig farm that’s 11 broken with brucellosis that had dogs, I’ll test the dogs as well – every one of those farms had at least one dog that was also infected so… AG: Did the dogs die from it too or they… KK: They, a lot of times they won’t show symptoms but they’ll have arthritis all over. The brucellosis like to go for the reproductive tissue and up into the spine – so they’ll have spinal abscesses, it’s pretty painful, it’s a tough disease to live with, um, up in I think New South Wales in Australia – they have a lot of brucellosis in the wild pigs there and their version of \[unclear\] came out the same. When you bring these dogs in for their annual vaccines and check them for heartworm – check them for brucellosis as well because they were finding, that’ll, you know, well, \[unclear\] hunting dogs were positive. Usually, it’s the grabber, especially if they grab them by the testicles and you have infection in the testicles boom right there. AG: That’s a sure sign if a pig’s testicles are big then… KK: \[Unclear\] but a lot of times these pigs look perfectly well… AG: Cause I’ve seen some pigs with huge massive… KK: Exactly and then, of course, with pseudo rabies, thank God, we don’t get that but when the dogs, sheep, cattle – they get pseudo rabies it’s called a juicy disease or the mad itch – there’s no treatment, there’s no cure. Dogs die before blood testing \[unclear\] positive. It’s a horrific way to go – they tend to scratch and just tear themselves apart, they can’t stop and really they’re dead from encephalitis within two, three days max. And there’s videos on Big Island thieves about \[unclear\] infected dogs. AA: Any other questions for Kim? NR: Yeah, thank you for coming in, Natalie, District – 7, thank you for coming in and sharing all that it was very informational, really appreciate it. KK: Sorry for running over, I knew it would. I had a lot to get out so… LT: Aloha, Leomana, District – 3, um, thank you Kim. I think I sat next to you on the plane one time. KK: Yes. LT: I have one question and it’s about – you were talking about how the industry regulates diseases according to cost and they target the big cost diseases but are there any low cost disease that they don’t target to try and cure that might affect human health, you know, it might not affect the financials of the industry but it might affect the human health and so maybe they might not I guess report it, try and cure it or fix it. KK: Yeah, that’s a great question, unfortunately there are so many that are out there and with budgets the way they are, I know that there’s a concept out there called “One Health” and that’s where new and emerging diseases primarily we’re looking now where it’s gonna be coming out of all of the wildlife that’s out there, I mean, look at Corona coming from a bat that came from 12 Pangolin. Bats are bad. Bats are bad about co-mingling and harboring all of these different viruses and \[unclear\] each other and the bats lower their body temperatures so they don’t get sick from it but they can then spread it and so “One Health, “I mean Corona Virus is a perfect example of that. SARS is another – that came from camels and then or MEARS Mid-Eastern Acute Respiratory, whatever, but the Corona Viruses are bad about that, so with our merging diseases the CDC does all the work on that, mainly with Department of Agriculture we’re looking at protecting our agricultural industry so there’s a lot of diseases that are out there – TRICK was one of them. Hawaii didn’t really regulate it cause we didn’t have it. It wasn’t deemed a high risk and I asked Dr. Moniz one day – I said, I see a lot of these it’s an amoeba type thing that causes abortions in cattle carried by the bulls once infected – the adults cannot be cured, cows will generally clear it but there’ll be a few that will keep it and it can cause calf losses of up to 70- 80% of your calf \[unclear\]. So, pretty big impact but the thing is with our budget, we were low risk, we didn’t have a lot of bulls coming back and forth. We found a herd that was infected because they were being exported to the mainland – that mainland state decided to regulate it and I’ll be darned, and it was positive and so… LT: OK. Mahalo. I’m fascinated. Is there anything like for my plants I spray Neem and Peppermint soap. Is there anything to, I guess, put around the house or in the yard that might prevent some of these bacteria diseases that transfer to other things in residential neighborhoods, like what can I tell people that spray in their yard to help keep it clean from the diseases? KK: Really? Not, not much, because you have to be careful with the disinfectants that are being put out there but the \[unclear\] and sunlight does a great job of getting rid of – and if anything if you could push back wild animals coming in and urinating and defecating on your property in a concentrated area, ah, simple things like the cats with toxoplasmosis – if there was a sandbox put a lid on it so they can’t get in there and poop. LT: OK. KK: You know, simple things like… LT: Mahalo… KK: Yeah… AA: Thanks. We have a member from the public in the room has a comment. SM: Yeah, I have a question. And just for those of you – my name is Shannon Matson. I work for Council Member Jenn Kagiwada in District – 2, the Hilo area and we’ve been trying to find another Commissioner to fill your vacant spot here but we still haven’t found anyone, um, \[unclear\] very concerning – just as a member of the public – not in my official job and I’m wondering \[unclear\] what sort of education or public outreach is being done for farmers and hunters on everything you just brought up – is that a State thing, is it a County thing – \[unclear\] who’s getting this information out to the public is one of my questions and then, um, \[unclear\] that you mentioned that there’s \[unclear\] with all sorts of different issues, um, is anyone at the State level or at the County level collecting data on the animals that are \[unclear\] is that being recorded anywhere, ah, does anyone \[unclear\] if so who would they contact to do that, um, 13 \[unclear\] to and/or if you have any information that you can share regarding public outreach, education, prevention, um, that’s going to a wide public outreach person. KK: If they call, I’ll be happy to go through a list, I know that hopefully, I’m hoping that the brucellosis, lepto is being covered and \[unclear\] is being covered in the hunter safety classes, anybody that’s using dogs – it’s, you know, you’ll always have that risk of picking up either of those diseases, usually dogs, so, it’s a hodgepodge: USDA, BIIS (the Big Island Invasive Species) has some good PR. USDA – we work hand in hand with them. This is where I got some of these pamphlets here and, um, HDOA, and so when I inter-act with producers or other people I always try and educate them – it’s a big deal. AA: Abraham, District – 5, Shannon get Kim’s contact information here. SM: \[Unclear\] AG: Austin Griffey, District – 6… AA: OK. Hold on. We’re gonna put Kim’s email in the Chat so if anybody from the other Commissioners or from the public have any other questions, they can direct it to our email. KK: Yeah, that’s my personal cell phone – feel free – that’s the best way to reach me and then that’s my work email and I check that daily, even on the weekends. NR: Do you prefer a call or a text message? KK: I’ll take either. I’m in the Acres so sometimes calls don’t go through, but texts seem to. And then if you text, you know, I can call. ?: \[Unclear\] you had your phone on you first. KK: Oh, hush… Inside joke, I forgot my phone one day. AG: Austin, District – 6. So, when I first started buying stuff and the pigs was kind of alarming so that’s why I brought it up, so we could spread awareness to the Commission. AA: Ah, Abraham, District – 5. So, yeah, all these diseases are bad, the worms are bad, I encountered them before, like I said, and it’s part of the reason why I came on to this Commission, I did, I had conversations with DOFAW. They don’t – in the State level – they don’t really have any public information besides these pamphlets. I never seen this pamphlets but I have other pamphlets, um, it’s pretty much all they say, if you have an influx in worms that, you know, you can see in the upper spinal area – discard the animal, as far as, you know, the brucellosis, trichinosis, leptospirosis and everything else, because our game is such a high sustainable resource even though and I not picking on Kim but even though she makes it look horrible and bad but in some of our communities they’re still a high valued resource so the education that needs to be done is like what she said, using the proper PBE – if you have a job – you gotta go through a whole bunch of EP education, safety courses just depends on what you do. Simple things, you know, for us hunters, you know, wear the rubber boots, go buy a box of gloves if you can afford it, wash your hands as soon as you can as far as taking care of the meat 14 later on just, you know, it’s been told – I’m in my mid-forties already I no like exact but I was always told, you know, make sure – especially pork – cook your pork good. This is from way back when. This is, you know, before I was born and my Mom always said, cook the pork good. And my Grandma always said, cook the pork good, so, as long as you guys do your due diligence as, you know, taking care of your game meat, your resource, it can’t be, I mean, it is a big deal but it also can be \[unclear\] as long as you take care of yourself and take care of the meat – as far as your, you know, your pals, your brothers, you know, your sisters, your dogs – that’s basically what I’m saying, you know your kids, I gonna call ‘em kids, um, there’s not too much that we can do to help protect them – if you see any signs just take ‘em into the vet as soon as you can. I’ve been hunting for over 20 years now – over twenty years – and luckily I haven’t seen anything bad with diseases with my dogs and I hunted all over the lower Puna area and upper Puna, I’ve been out to Ka’u couple times, Kona once, so I been around this Island hunting and like I said, luckily I haven’t encountered any bad diseases with my dogs, I mean, they, as far as the pigs they got gored up pretty well, you know, but as far as just diseases – I’m not saying that it’s not out there – it is out there – Kim called me to come and assist her very recently at one of my friend’s properties to go and dispatch a pig and they tested it and it was positive for brucellosis – so it is out there, one of my hunting friends – he was hunting down in the Nanawale Forest Reserve – lower Puna – and him and his dogs came up with pseudo rabies. So, it’s not – I not saying it’s not out there – just protect yourself very well, um, try and protect your animals very well – that’s all I can say, as long as, you know, just protect yourself with your PPE and take care of your meat. KK: I guess the one point too that came up when I was – that, that research – things that you can do to decrease the chances of infection. Number one thing too, is wash your dogs. AA: Yeah. KK: As, as – if you carry water on your truck – especially wash around the eyes, rinse their mouths out if they were the grabbers – get any blood off of them cause dilutions – the solution of the pollution – the less contact time – you can hopefully, reduce your dogs’ becoming infected. Just washing your dogs – something as simple as that – wash the mouth – get the blood off. AG: I’ve lost two dogs with leptospirosis. KK: Lepto? AG: Um-hum. KK: Oh my God. AG: From having \[unclear\] mac nut tree. KK: And then have all the water and then animals come and go shi… AG: It’s the rats running around. KK: Oh, the rats are bad about that, yeah…. 15 AA: OK. Thanks. No last comments or we have fire tablet as long as you don’t answer, ask any more questions – or it looks like Nani Pogline – go ahead Nani. NP: Hi, Nani Pogline, commenter from the public. I’m a very fortunate beneficiary of wild caught meat and I trust the hunters that I get it from, ah, are careful, and I prepare it usually pressure cooked, wash my hands. All this meat safe practices you’re taught from childhood with any raw meat and, um, I really appreciate the resource because the grocery stores are getting so expensive and I think, it’s important to also show the positive side of our wild meat resources in the Islands, we may really need them, so I am afraid we don’t want to discourage the public too much with fear, of course these things are real – but more education to teach people how to identify. It would be great if there was a meat inspection site available to the public – positive things like that – that, people wouldn’t stop using the resource, so, thank you very much. KK: I agree. We during COVID we were very food secure – take the wild chickens for Spam \[unclear\] eggs. We do feral pig removal and it’s delicious – we eat – we rarely have to go buy meat. RD: Kim – Duerr, District – 1. Are there any, you know, tests, field tests like for ciguatera for fish that hunters could use? KK: Unfortunately, not. But what I can do is provide test tubes where after, you know, clean ‘em out all you got to do is catch the blood in the test tube – put a cap on it – wipe it off and it would be ideal if you were able tell me male or female, um, and as close an area that you picked up that sample from – that way we can know which sounders are maybe carrying different disease. I know there’s an area in Kurtistown that we’re focusing really hard before we’d pulled a lot of positive brucellosis’s, um, and that’s a feeder situation unfortunately, so, worse yet, with chance to concentrate that disease by having an artificial, large number of animals is very concerning, so neighbor’s, hunters in that area will do that and we will test for pseudo rabies and brucellosis. That’s all that our State’s able to afford to do, but we’ll get an idea of, um, if you know where the pigs were taken – another thing too is we see a lot of domestic pigs mixed in with the wild pigs and so it would be nice to know how many of them, you know, was it feral, was it mixed breed, um, and then just like the GPS if you have it on your phone or hey, I caught it in this section of whatever, so, again, I’ve got free test tubes out, in the front area of my office and it you just had your name/contact information and a little bit about where you got the sample from, um, and if people come to pick up the test tubes I’ll tell them the best way to try and get a good sample, because you don’t want to freeze it – you want to set it up and then I’ll send it down and send it off to our lab. AG: Ice…? KK: Ice is good. Ice is good. So usually what we’ll do is collect the sample – put the cap on it – cut off the bottom with like a Coke bottle or something and just stand it in there and then you could put ice around there or you could stick it in an ice chest. The main thing is you don’t shake up the blood. We want to get a nice little clot on it and then it’ll spin it down. But, if it gets to the point where its frozen or it winds up turning to chocolate then I really can’t, so… But we’ll try, we’ll try. AA: OK. Thanks, again, Kim. Ah we look to working with you in the future… 16 KK: Absolutely. AA: Yeah, you get other Commissioners’ contact numbers then you can get some – they can get some test tubes and stuff, um, be careful what you wish for – you might be flooded out. KK: It helps us, if we’re able to work together with wildlife services, DLNR, or whoever, we’ll have a better idea of the migration patterns of these sounders – the diseases that they’re carrying, um, is it an increase? Decrease? With more information you can manage – if you measure it you can \[unclear\]. 7. Old Business: a. Commissioner Leomana Turalde – Draft Letter, as Amended, in Support of State House Concurrent Resolution 50: REQUESTING THE DLNR TO PROVIDE UPDATED STATISTICS AND FACTS RELATING TO THE DECLINE OF PALILA ON MAUNA KEA AND INVESTIGATE THE FACTORS CAUSING THE DECLINE OF THE PALILA POPULATION AA: Yeah. OK. Moving on – we have Old Business, Commissioner Leomana, draft letter as amended in support of the State House Concurrent Resolution 50 – requesting the DLNR to provide updates, statistics and facts relating to the decline of the Palila on Mauna Kea and investigate the factors causing the decline of Palila population. Leomana? LT: Aloha, Leomana, District – 3. I can read this out – I think I have to give – amend one sentence of that Austin asked about but can we just kill or table this because the Leg season is done and we can introduce it later on or do you still want to follow this up? AA: It’s not going be tabled… LT: Or, I mean, I don’t know how – can we move forward from this cause I – cause this was in requesting support for… AA: Right, no, I know, Abraham, District – 5. I know what you’re saying, and this is the, you know, again, this is the exact reason why… LT: I wanted to send… AA: ….the whole process, this whole process now is just so much harder getting our letters out and because, I think, this is the third one now that we tried to do and Leg is done now, you know? And the other ones in the past the – it already got passed and we couldn’t even get anything done, um, I mean, we got it done but it’s – by the time we actually get it to be filed it’s kinda too late already, yeah? There’s nothing much, I guess, per Corporation Counsel – there’s nothing much we can do, in the future, just for the Commission – just be careful – this – they asking if we can move our meetings to quarterly or something like that so I’m still trying to hold our ground have our meetings monthly cause we barely can get these things done, right, so, um, I guess we can just take that off of the agenda and move on to the next agenda item, which is under New Business. 17 RD: Chair, – Duerr, from District – 1, one thing though, we’re late – we possibly could use this as an opportunity to be early for next year. AA: For next year… RD: Right and then essentially if… AA: So it’s filed – Abraham, District – 5, it’s pretty much on our GMAC County page, so, you guys can just probably pull that out later on, next year. RD: Could – but what I’m suggesting is – do we send it – do we sent the Chairs of Water and Land in the Senate in – I know that’s Senator Inouye in the Senate and I’m not sure who it is in the House but they’ll be receiving things through their office – if they know and right now where there’s not a lot of background noise – it may stand out – that they know that people – that the Commission is concerned about this. DML: You could still send something for education purposes – it may not affect the specific bill… RD: Yeah… DML: But it gets you a position in peoples’ minds. AA: Maybe edit it – Abraham, District – 5, maybe edit it Leomana to where it’s more of an educational thing than more of a support thing. Or, I mean, you can, I think you can ref – it’s good you reference the bill… LT: Yeah? AA: ….but if you know like edit this more toward the education thing, I guess, would be… LT: Yeah, I’ll, Leomana, District – 3, I’ll rewrite something and then come back to the next meeting, and present this as an education letter. AA: And then, ah, secondly, another point I want to make on it is – your strongly – and I know this is what you’re pretty much you’re here for – your supporting the birds and everything like that but don’t forget that we want to emphasize our game resources as well, yeah, like how Austin was saying, ah? DML: You should have a motion to carry it over for this rerun. AA: OK. Can we have a motion to for Leomana to re-write this letter for education purposes to the Chair of the Water and Land Committees in the Senate and the House and also the Agriculture Committees in the Senate and the House. Action: Motion made by R. Duerr to have L. Turalde amend his letter for submittal to the Land and Water Commissions, House and Senate and also Ag Committees House and Senate to make them aware of the Palila and perhaps how it affects game 18 management. Seconded by A. Griffey. Motion carried by poll vote with 6 ayes, no nays. RD: I’ll make a motion, Chair, Duerr, District – 1, that we have Leomana take the – to re to edit his letter for submittal to the Land and Water Commissions, House and Senate also the Ag Committees House and Senate – to make them aware of the Palila and perhaps how it affects game management. AG: Austin Griffey, District – 6, I second that motion. AA: Robert Duerr made a motion to approve a letter of education to the Leg, Austin Griffey made a second, any discussion? AG: Austin Griffey, District – 6. Leomana I just wanted to – one thing to you – you don’t have to put it on your letter or – I just wanted to let you know that Palila birds are tree nesting birds and I think helicopters doing aerial eradication serve a more severe threat to the Palila than the sheep itself. AA: Any other discussion or comments from the Commission? LT: \[Unclear\] Mahalo \[unclear\]. AA: No. I just checking if anybody else have any more comments. ?: No. AA: OK. ?: You have the vote? AA: Um, roll call vote? District – 1, Robert Duerr? RD: Aye. AA: District – 2, vacant. District – 3, Leomana? LT: Aye. AA: District – 4, Brian’s absent. District – 5, Abraham, aye. District – 6, Austin? AG: Aye. AA: District – 7, Natalie? NR: Aye. AA: District – 8, Cortney? 19 CO: Aye. AA: District – 9, vacant. Six ayes, no nays, motion carries. 8. NEW BUSINESS a. GMAC 2023 Second Quarter Report to Mayor Roth and County Council AA: Moving on to New Business, GMAC 2023 Second Quarterly Report to Mayor Roth and County Council. We just making this known – we had Cortney, or actually Nani Pogline made the last ones from last year and then we went to Cortney, then Leomana just did our first quarterly report, anybody want to volunteer to be the, ah, do our second quarterly report? If not, I’ll nominate somebody. Natalie – would you mind doing the second quarterly report? No worry, everybody going get one chance. NR: I, Natalie, District – 7, the next couple months are very hectic with travelling for sport schedules and building and a lot of other stuff I have going on. I’m so sorry, I have to decline. ?: When does it have to be in by? ?: Um, let’s see… AA: Barbara do you know when the second quarterly report has to be in by? BK: After the fiscal year, I believe. By the end of August I would think, you know, let’s see \[unclear\]? TN: Three months… BK: September. Natalie will be back in September – school time. NR: Um, I go… I have volleyball travel schedule through about August and then July I start gymnastics. I’m so sorry. AA: OK. That’s all right. Robert, would you mind doing the second quarterly report? RD: I have a question – so the second quarter is April, May and June? AA: Yeah. RD: OK. And then similar to what Leomana did. He did the last report. AA: Leomana did the last one – so you can contact Leomana, you can contact Cortney but contact Sylvia and then she… RD: Yes, this is basically you, going through the reports, the transcripts, and then pull ‘em from… 20 AA: Yeah, but Sylvia was kind of thinking putting little bit more involved in it because just by reading it – just by reading it… RD: Can we, form a committee to draft this and then have Sylvia as an agent if she doesn’t… AA: Well, that’s why you just contact her and… RD: OK. Thanks, so Robert Duerr is going to do the second quarterly report. LT: Leomana, District – 3, aren’t we supposed to have some sort of education class on how to file a \[unclear\] report because the last I did was all bullet points style. BK: Correct, you’re correct Leomana. AA: You’re correct but Sylvia’s not here and then again, we cannot get executives, what’s it called again – executive… BK: Session… AA: Session, again, today and Sylvia’s out sick so, maybe by next month or the following month – like we still have time \[unclear\] it’s not that big of an issue, if you want something sooner than just contact Sylvia – not today – she’s sick, so, I mean, unless you put it on all the email. b. Deliberation & Decision Making: Drafted Letter of Gratitude to House Rep. Mark Nakashima for introducing bills of GMAC interest, by Chairperson Abraham Antonio AA: Ah, Deliberation and Decision Making drafted letter of gratitude to House Rep Nakashima for introducing bills of GMAC interest by Chairperson myself, Abraham Antonio. So, everybody got that letter in their package, everybody read it – mustn’t assume – I don’t like to assume, so we approved in the past, to write up this letter, um… ?: \[Unclear\] AA: ….the one to Mark Nakashima. ?: \[Unclear\] AA: Yeah, one short one, yeah. So, if, you guys all approve of it – can I have a motion to approve it. LT: Leomana, District – 3, I’d like to make a motion to approve the thank you letter to Mark Nakashima. CO: Cortney, District – 8, second. AA: Leomana made a motion to approve the Nakashima letter, Cortney second – any discussion on the letter? 21 Action: Motion made by L. Turalde to approve a thank you letter to Rep. Mark Nakashima regarding his support on the bills that were of interest to GMAC. Seconded by C. Okumura. Motion carried by poll vote with 6 ayes, no nays. LT: None, just thank you for all the help… AA: Not seeing any, ah, yeah, so it’s just a thank you letter to Mark Nakashima and his staff, you know, with coming to us, um, asking us for our expertise on some of the bills that went through that didn’t get passed. I think the resolution for the Palila one – that one made it. Nani Pogline did the HCR 50 made it all the way through? NP: Yes. It was adopted, it did. So good news. AA: And that’s part of the letter that Leomana wrote in support of that bill, I mean, that resolution and that resolution made it all the way past so this is just a thank you letter for his support and working with us, roll call vote – District – 1, Robert Duerr? RD: Aye. AA: District – 2, vacant. District – 3, Leomana? LT: Aye. AA: District – 4, absent, Brian. District – 5, aye, myself. District – 6, Austin Griffey? AG: Aye. AA: District – 7, Natalie Reynolds? NR: Aye. AA: District – 8, Cortney Okamura. CO: Aye. AA: District – 9, vacant. Six ayes, no nays. The motion carries. c. Deliberation & Decision Making – HB 1089 RELATING TO A STATE BOATING FACILITY LEASE PILOT PROGRAM AA: Deliberation & Decision Making on HB 1089 Relating to a State Boating Facility Lease Pilot Program. Um, was that you… RD: No. Was that the \[unclear\] Sylvia – Sylvia added the actual HB 1089 to the thank you letter to Lorraine? 22 AA: Or is this part of – yeah – I think that’s what it is. So, was just to make a motion to attach it to that letter? RD: I presume so. AA: OK. Can someone make a motion to approve the HB 1089 to attach it to Robert Duerr’s letter to the State Boating to DAR… Action: Motion made by L. Turalde to add HB 1089 Relating to a State Boating Facility Lease Pilot Program to the thank letter that R. Duerr is preparing to Senator L. Inouye. Seconded by N. Reynolds. Motion carried by poll vote with 6 ayes, no nays. LT: Leomana, District – 3, I’d like to make a motion to attach the letter to Robert Duerr’s letter to the State – Lorraine Inouye. NR: Natalie, District – 7, I second. AA: Leomana made a motion to approve this attachment, Natalie second. Roll call vote: Robert Duerr, District – 1. RD: Aye. AA: District – 2, vacant. District – 3, Leomana? LT: Aye. AA: District – 4, absent. District – 5, aye, Abraham. District – 6, Austin? AG: Aye. AA: District – 7, Natalie? NR: Aye. AA: District – 8, Cortney? CO: Aye. AA: District – 9, vacant. Six ayes, no nays, motion carries. d. Deliberation & Decision Making: Draft Letter of Thank you to Senator Lorraine Inouye as Chair of the Water and Land Committee regarding HB 1089, by Commissioner Robert Duerr. AA: Robert? Do you mind taking over for this? 23 RD: Yeah, I see one change. Essentially, Senator Inouye has been very helpful. There’s been a non- transparent effort by the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation and some of the leadership in the Senate to privatize harbors, which essentially – small boat harbors – which essentially means privatizing – they had this is a pilot program – essentially they’re looking at harbors like Ala Wai and harbors like Honokohau and harbors like Lanai which have interests in real estate developers and high profile boaters from out of – that do not like to wait in line – get on a list to have their boats in Hawaii harbors. So, Senator Inouye has been very helpful in – maybe, there should be leased pilots but maybe the government that wants to do that program needs to come in front of the public and voters and explain why and how and when and where. The critical thing here is – that the Boating Special Fund is funded by harbor revenues and then when those funds – when a harbor moves to a private entity – that private entity no longer is subject to public disclosure of their finances or their contract by State law – so it becomes a real problem that if you take out a harbor like a Honokohau or like a Ala Wai – which are generators for small harbors that don’t generate like Wailoa or He’e on Oahu and Molokai and Kauai and Milolii and South Point then you’re affecting fishers by the hundreds and so that’s, that’s really the problem, Abraham, it’s on going… This thing comes up every year, it’s ongoing. AA: So how you – do you want to move forward with this in any way? Well, actually, we’re just approving this letter. RD: Yeah, sounds good. Actually, there’s maybe one correction to promote and protect the security – your efforts to veto – to promote and protect the security of vetoing HB 1089. She killed this bill. AA: Perfect. RD: Yeah. We want this – does that mean to be in there on this and if, it did need a change would we have to come back next month or can we do that now? DML: You could do it now but just the motion should include to approve the letter with that addition of, I think it was about \[unclear\] by veto. RD: Yeah. DML: \[Unclear\] the motion can be made with that. AA: Just ran ‘em in there and we’ll read it again and then we can approve it. RD: OK. AA: But, again, like this is basically a thank you letter, and for her efforts in support for the small boat harbors. RD: Yeah. Side note. Senator Lorraine Inouye took major heat when crossed the Senate leadership and it became a public news battle which, has repercussions and she really stood up this session for Hawaii Island in the State. AA: For our community. 24 AA: Nice… Would you mind reading that letter again and then we can… RD: Can I make a motion? DML: You can make the motion. RD: Yeah, I’ll make a motion that we approve the letter to Senator Lorraine Inouye to thank her for her efforts with one addition that we add of wild source food through, and we add by vetoing HB 1089. So, only thing we’re adding is by vetoing. AG: Austin Griffey, District – 6, I second that motion. Action: Motion made by R. Duerr to approve the letter to Senator Lorraine Inouye and adding in vetoing HB 1089. Seconded by A. Griffey. Motion carried by poll vote with 6 ayes, no nays. AA: Robert Duerr made a motion to approve the letter and adding in vetoing by – what is that? RD: By vetoing. AA: By vetoing. Austin did a second. Roll call vote. Robert Duerr, District – 1. Oh. Any discussion – anymore discussion on this? Not seeing any, District -1, Robert Duerr? RD: Aye. AA: District – 2, vacant. District – 3, Leomana? LT: Aye. AA: District – 4, Brian, absent. District – 5, Abraham, aye. District – 6, Austin? AG: Aye. AA: District – 7, Natalie? NR: Aye. AA: District – 8, Cortney? CO: Aye. AA: District – 9, vacant. Six ayes, no nays, the motion carries. 9. COMMITTEE REPORTS: a. Investigate Committee: Investigate the Eradication of Game Animals on DHHL Land No report. 25 b. Investigative Committee: Investigate Extent of Effects of Mass Feeding of Feral Animals, and Potential Solutions No report. AA: Committee Reports? Ah, we going to table the Committee Reports per our Corporation Counsel – I guess we need more training or something. So, moving on… AG: \[Unclear\] update report too, like… AA: Oh, are you ready and then that’s gonna be it for yours? Which one is yours then? AG: The lobster one. DML: \[Unclear\] AA: He’s done… DML: Then he can do it. AA: Yeah. DML: Then he’s good to go. AA: OK, so we going… RD: You know, Chair, could we just have a little background on how a committee, how a PIG and a committee operates, you know, maybe not full details but like a – some real summaries. DML: OK. Well, I mean, technically this isn’t on the agenda so just the quickest thing I can say is there is a \[unclear\] it’s fairly lengthy – it’s an opinion that you can find on the Office of Information Practices or I will leave it with Abraham, which goes into this a great deal, great detail but the PIG is formed, you know when it’s started – it has to at that point appoint all its members and define what it’s going to do. There can be no change to the membership once it is formed and no change to what it is going to investigate. OK. It can, it’s only allowed to make one report. It cannot give up this. So, it could be investigating something for months but once it comes back, and I understand Austin you’ve finished your work – you’re gonna give your report. When you give your report that PIG automatically ends. It’s disbanded by virtue of the report. So, … AG: Austin – District 6, can we start a new PIG to proceed the report or like another investigation towards it? DML: Well, that would have to be done at a different time. And then, once you give the report – the Commission can’t act on the report until the following meeting. AG: OK. 26 DML: So, if a Commissioner wants to take some action \[unclear\] that has to be done at a third meeting. And I realize this is kind of cumbersome and confusing, which is why I think, an executive session with more training would be really good next time but this is a very recent decision from the Office of Information Practices – that regulates the Sunshine Law, it’s dated December 12, 2022, so… LT: Leomana, District 3. I just had a question – in the beginning you said according to opinion, is opinion a technical word meaning something other than an opinion? Sorry, I was listening, I didn’t understand that part. DML: I’m sorry, it’s, there’s your, opinions it’s comes from the Office of Information Practices, so they’re the ones that enforce the Sunshine Law. So, their opinion \[unclear\]. LT: \[Unclear\] Well I guess I don’t understand what an opinion is then. DML: Well, they – I guess the easiest way if I could say, it is that people either ask questions of them or somebody reports an infraction and then, the Office then opines on it. LT: So, this is not a lead technical thing – this is just oh what’s your opinion… DML: No, no, it’s a legal opinion. LT: OK. Thanks. NR: Natalie, District – 7. I have a question regarding the time frame because a lot of times when we talk to the public or something comes out in, um, like with the County or State – we run into the problem is, depending on the time frame when our meeting is and then the process of everything, sometimes we’re a little behind with having to create PIG, then waiting till the next meeting to give the report and then finally going to the next meeting to present a vote. But there’s just a lot of stuff with that and a lot of down time where we as individuals and representatives of our district can get things knocked out especially when being pressured by the public and people within our district and we’re just trying to make things happen whereas, you know, with \[unclear\] he – when he went to present it had already passed. Like we’re just having some \[unclear\]. Like I have issues when it’s like a lot of down time – is there anything we can do to make it go faster? AA: Natalie, at this time we’re gonna move to next month’s meeting and then Sylvia – we can have training like maybe before our meeting next month and then you can re-come back with those questions. I guess… DML: I think the question concerned to that is, a PIG doesn’t – can talk to the public or anybody it wants – it’s investigating – and getting information so it’s not held to the same restrictions as those restrictions that you have in the meeting or as a committee, as a full committee with respect to inter-actions. You can inter-act with the public all you like as a PIG. c. Investigative Committee: Rules and Regulations Related to Lobster Harvesting and Sale 27 AA: Yeah, OK, moving forward. Going back to Austin’s Rules and Regulations Related to Lobster Harvesting and Sale. AG: \[Unclear\] This is the research I’ve done on lobsters from the rules and regulations for commercial sale and, just personal consumption. So, it’s unlawful – so this is §13-95-53 Spiny Lobster. (a) It is unlawful for any person to take, kill, possess or sell any spiny lobsters less than 3 ¼ inches in carapace length, measured in a straight line along the carapace or head, from the ridge between the two largest spines above the eyes to the rear edge of the carapace. (a) It is unlawful for any person to take, kill, possess, or sell any spiny lobsters taken from the waters within the jurisdiction of the State during the months of May, June, July and August. (b) The possession of any spiny lobster by any person during the months of May, June, July and August shall be prima facie evidence that the person is guilty of a violation of this section; provided that any commercial marine dealer may sell or any hotel, restaurant or other public eating house may serve spiny lobster lawfully caught during the open season by first procuring a license to do so pursuant to § 13-74 -41. RD: Chair, one, Austin, one \[unclear\] you know, so if this is a PIG report and it’s not on the agenda can we hear this now? DML: Well… AA: Actually, it’s on the agenda. RD: Oh, right… AG: It is unlawful for any person to take, kill, possess, or sell any spiny lobster with eggs; any spiny lobster with eggs caught must immediately be returned to the waters from which the spiny lobster was taken. The possession of any spiny lobster showing indications of the eggs having been scraped or removed therefrom, shall be prima facie evidence of the violation of this section. It is unlawful for any person to pursue, take or kill any spiny lobster in the State with a spear. So, no three-pronging spearing lobsters whatsoever, it’s against the law. It is unlawful for any person to possess or sell any speared spiny lobster. It is unlawful for any person to possess or sell any spiny lobster in conditions where the body is mutilated, or carcass and end tail is separated. It is unlawful for any person to take or kill any female spiny lobster period. Based \[unclear\] of Chapter 89 or Title 13 was based, regulations \[unclear\] Division of Fish and Game, Department of Land and Natural Resources, State of Hawaii \[unclear\] § 13-95-54 Slipper lobster. It is unlawful for any person to take, kill, possess, or sell and slipper lobster less than 2 ¾ inches in tail width measured on a straight line across the widest spot of the tail, between the first and second abdominal segments. It is unlawful for any person to take, kill, possess, or sell any slipper lobster taken from the waters under the jurisdiction of the State during the months of May, June, July, and August. The possession of any slipper lobster by a person in the month of May, June, July, and August shall be prima facie evidence that the person is guilty of the violation of this section. It’s pretty much the same thing as the spiny lobsters. It’s unlawful for any person to take, kill, possess, or sell any slipper lobster with eggs. Any slipper with eggs caught must immediately be returned to the waters, anything showing any indication with eggs having been scraped or removed therefrom, shall be prima facie evidence of the violation of this section. Unlawful for any persons to proceed, take, or kill and slipper lobsters with a spear as well. It’s 28 unlawful for any person to possess or sell any slipper lobster in the condition where the body is mutilated or disconnected from the tail as well. Then I have a pamphlet here showing a male and female lobsters. So the male swimmers on the underside of the tale dominating each – have one leaf like segment and of the last fit pair of walking legs – similar to other walking legs and not claw-shaped – the female \[unclear\] should each have two branches and first set both are leaf like other, other have one leaf like and one broad like branch, \[unclear\] usually larger then on males. \[Unclear\] as base, the last two pairs of walking legs and a fifth pair of walking legs, claw shaped \[unclear\]. But there’s a lot more, swimmer fins on the female and there’s also an extra claw underneath to keep \[unclear\] to know that there’s a female that \[unclear\] older eggs. \[Unclear\] versus the male – the male only has four swimmers on each side – so it’s eight total and in between the swimmers is there’s no other arms to grab on that the females have these little, little, arms that fold onto the eggs \[unclear\]. That’s all I got for that. Pretty much it’s our law on slipper lobsters \[unclear\]. AA: So, would you like to make any changes to those rules because, you know, like – besides making it known to the public and anybody can go to the PIG. AG: I would like to make a lot of changes. There is, no bag limits for one, which we do need because they’re using it as – there’s commercial \[unclear\] – so anybody can just go every single night with unlimited bag limit and pick 200 lobsters. If you do that every single night for 2 months – there’s no lobsters. During the whole season that it’s open there’ll be no lobsters and the regenerative program to where that four months that they get to not get attacked by people is not enough time for another two or three thousand lobsters to grow. They’re gonna be this big. DML: So, excuse me, if I may, … AA: State your name please. DML: OK. Diana Mellon-Lacey, Corporation Counsel. For any action items or to consider action from this report that would have to be added to your next agenda as action items stemming from this and even though the PIG itself is disbanded now that you’ve made your report the Committee can then take up the action items at the next meeting. AG: OK. So, do I have to make a motion to? DML: Yeah, you can make a motion to have this placed on the agenda for next month to consider action items taken from your report. AA: We don’t need to make a motion to put something… DML: You don’t need to, but if you want to. AA: \[Unclear\] we’ll talk to Barbara and we’ll… DML: OK. 29 AA: I mean that looks good, the only thing I going say about that is and it goes to everyone – when you guys make you guys’ commission reports just make sure you guys get it at least 7 days ahead to Barbara so we can get that to everybody and part of the GMAC package. AG: So, what action I want taken I’ll display under… AA: Well, I’m just stating – any reports from the Committees make sure you guys give it to prior – 7 days prior to the meeting so everybody can have that… AG: Oh, cause I’m the only one who brought it… AA: Yeah. So, you don’t, yeah, cause you don’t have it – so you describing us to the pictures but if, um, let’s just say Robert doesn’t know what a lobster… AG: Yeah, yeah, yeah. AA: So it’s \[unclear\] for everybody because, um, and I know Barbara reaches out to everyone so at least 7 days ahead, send in you guys report to her so everybody can get ‘em one time and then we can kinda, you know, look over it and we going know more or less – so at this time we not gonna make any decisions or motions on your report – just… ?: \[Unclear\] AA: Ah, you know what, let’s make a motion to approve your report and then we go from there… AG: OK AA: Because to me it sounds like you just citing the rules and regulations… AG: Yeah, yeah, yeah… AA: And that’s what your committee was for. Action: A motion was made by L. Turalde to approve A. Griffey’s report on the Rules and Regulations Related to Lobster Harvesting and Sale. Seconded by N. Reynolds. The motion passed unanimously by voice vote. LT: Leomana, District – 3. I’d like to make a motion to approve Austin’s report on the ula. NR: Natalie, District – 7. I second that motion. AA: Leomana made a motion to approve Austin’s committee report – Natalie made a second. Any discussion? Not seeing any discussion, ah, District – 1, Robert Duerr? RD: Aye. AA: District – 2, vacant. District – 3, Leomana? 30 LT: Aye. AA: District – 4, absent. District – 5, aye, Abraham. District – 6, Austin? AG: Aye. AA: District – 7, Natalie? NR: Aye. AA: District – 8, Cortney? CO: Aye. AA: District – 9, vacant. Six ayes, no nayes, motion carries. d. Investigative Committee: Regulations Affecting Keauhou Bay and Logistical Issues, and Potential Solutions No report. e. Investigative Committee: DLNR expenditures of Pittman-Robertson grants, Dingle- Johnson grants, Boating Special Fund, and Off Highway Vehicle Fund in the County of Hawai’i No report. f. Investigative Committee: Laupahoehoe Boat Ramp & Seawall Repair Update No report. 10. ANNOUNCEMENTS: a. Reso 165-23, A RESOLUTION URGING THE MAYOR OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I TO CONVENE A FERAL UNGULATE MANAGEMENT WORKING GROUP, introduced by Council Member C. Evans, to be heard in Governmental Operations and External Affairs Committee by the Hawaii County Council today, May 16, 2023. AA: Announcements: So, we had an email come in from Cindy Evans office – which she’s County Council, District – 9. She’s urging a resolution regarding a working group who help control the feral ungulates. It’s just a working group. I kinda do not support this working group as for myself but, as per Chair of GMAC, taking a different stance, I am only in support of it because GMAC can have an actual word in this resolution if it moves forward. If it doesn’t move – if GMAC doesn’t have a representative in it then we can’t, you know, we’re not gonna have state our opinions of this resolution besides just being personal so, everybody got the resolution – apparently it was supposed to have been through County Council today but it didn’t make it on the County Council agenda. SM: Chair… 31 AA: Yeah, go ahead. SM: Yeah, this is Shannon Matson, Legislative Assistant for Councilwoman Jenn Kagiwada \[unclear\] agenda, so perhaps anyone who has some concerns about this resolution might want to contact Council Member Kagiwada directly, but it is not going to be \[unclear\] future agenda so our office, you know, we have the Sunshine Law and we haven’t spoken to her directly so we don’t know but we \[unclear\] State working group that is being formed – \[unclear\] it seems like it’s duplicating the efforts, and it is recommended to be \[unclear\] form that the County needs \[unclear\] there’s no point in having multiple groups doing the same thing so we think that’s why it was pulled and we don’t think it will be reintroduced again at the County Council level but I can’t verify that without speaking with sounds like Council Member Evans. \[unclear\]. AG: Actually – Austin Griffey, District – 6, it would actually be nice to have multiple investigating parties working on the same thing so that it’s not just one-sided. AA: Right. So, at this time we just going table this, I guess would be a bette RD: Before you have a table - Duerr, District – 1, you said you weren’t, you know, for this and I don’t know if you want to go on the record why you’re not for it, but if you were to go on the record, what’s your problem here? AA: It’s basically what, like what Miss Matson said, we have all these other agencies that’s doing the same thing, and I’m pro-game, right, and we have so much people on the attack of our ungulates: goats, sheep, cattle, I mean, and even if you look into, um, so I’m reading this right off of the Resolution 165 23 it says, whereas, the sight of wild ungulates such as the mouflon sheep on the slopes of Mauna Kea or goats on the leeward side of Hawaiʻi Island, are increasingly common and make clear that the management of feral ungulates is an equally high priority for the County of Hawaiʻi. But first of all the County of Hawaiʻi doesn’t have any jurisdiction on Mauna Kea. So why is the County of Hawaiʻi trying to tap their nose in it? DML: If I may, since this is \[unclear\] it really… AA: I know what you’re saying but he asked my opinion. DML: Yeah, and I think that’s really not appropriate at this time because this is moot and so you’re referencing the document exactly. RD: No, no. We were talking about \[unclear\] and I intervened before… DML: No, but it’s – it is not being heard. It’s moot because it’s no longer going to be on the Council’s agenda so… AA: Not at this time. We don’t know if… ?: Well, if it’s reintroduced then… ?: But that was on the resolution number, yeah… 32 RD: It clarifies Chair – Duerr, District – 1, it clarifies that \[unclear\] eradication efforts… AA: Per our Corporation Counsel, I’ll just make it simple – so that’s just one of the problems that’s stress in that little part and I’ll just leave it at that, right. RD: Thank you. AA: OK. Shannon, Ms. Matson, if you want to contact \[unclear\] further into it. Um, back to my agenda. b. Next meeting will be on June 20, 2023, at 9:00 am to 11:00 am at the West Hawai’i Civic nd Center, Administration Office, Building C, 2 Floor, 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740. AA: Ten b. Basically the next meeting is gonna be June 20, 2023, at 9:00a at the West Hawaii Civic Center, administration office, Bldg. C, second floor, that’s it for that. Our ladies District – 7 and District – 8, were supposed to be in Hilo \[unclear\] – that’s right you guys come later on – and I’ll see you guys next month. Other than that, and Leomana but he’s in Georgia – I think softball, Leomana? Baseball? LT: Wild animals… AA: OK. Game resources, brah. LT: I’m actually doing a pig investigation on top of feeding of wild animals. AA: Right on. Other than that, does anybody want to make a motion to end… 11. Adjournment (11:00 am): A motion was made by L. Turalde at 10:46 am to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by A. Griffey, motion passed unanimously by voice vote. Respectfully submitted by, Barbara Kossow Secretary 33