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LT: OK. Yeah. Thank you for that statement. I’m actually gonna switch around so we can go to our <br />presentations first and then after we can do our Commissioner Reports by District. Do we need <br />to take a vote on that? <br /> <br />SW: No. That’s your discretion as Chair. <br /> <br />4. COMMISSIONER REPORT BY DISTRICT: <br /> <br /> <br />5. PRESENTATION: <br /> <br />a. County Council Member Ashley Kierkiewicz, Over-Population of Pigs in <br />Lower Puna: Discussion of Four-Point Plan Proposal. <br /> <br />LT: OK. Thank you. This morning we have County Council Member Ashley Kierkiewicz, who came to <br />share her plan for lowering the pig population in her district of Puna. Aloha, Ashley. Thank you <br />for speaking today. <br /> <br />AK: \[Unclear, council\] <br /> <br />SW: No, we’re not as formal as Council. <br /> <br />AK: Well, thanks for the \[unclear\]. I was actually with Bob Duerr in separate meeting and he was <br />talking about feral pigs and I let him know, hey, I’ve been working the Community Partners and <br />Research & Development to come up with what is now known as the Five-Point Plan for dealing <br />with the feral pig population actually on Hawaii Island not just lower Puna, although I do want to <br />credit Amedeo Markoff and Eileen O’Hara with Malama o Puna – they received a small grant <br />from Research & Development last year to build a pig ring, which traps pigs and they have been <br />harvesting that local meat to fed local families so, I was invited to attend a feral pig sort of <br />conversation in Hawaiian Shores back in April. I had no idea I’d be on the panel but folks were <br />curious about how the County could provide support in this arena and after a really robust <br />conversation with the community members, and chatting with Research & Development to see <br />is there funding available to actually do something about this issue. They said, yes, and so the <br />Five-Point Plan was created. High level overview: Point 1 is to purchase and distribute traps <br />around the Island; Second Point is pilot carcass breakdown using the black soldier fly; Third <br />Point is to test value-added products development; Fourth Point is the development of a <br />processing facility’s plan; and the Fifth is to test sperm disruption solutions and to study that. So <br />the first we would be procuring a series of traps – locally produced if possible – and then work <br />with State, Federal partners, members of this Commission to identify where we should stage <br />these traps and, partner with local hunters to determine how many pigs are being trapped by <br />each of these devices so that we can begin to build a data set around how big this problem is <br />around Hawaii Island. We want to collaborate with local hunters so that we can essentially start <br />the process – these capture pigs, and one way around the Department of Health requirements <br />for processing pigs in a, you know, certified kitchen processing facility is to do something that <br />they’re doing on Kauai right now, which is to set-up a meat club – so folks would be members of <br />a club and they are taking this feral pig meat at their own risk – but what we could do is partner <br />3 <br /> <br /> <br />