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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0128.001 2002-2004Kona Blue Water Farms A Division of Black Pearls, Inc.. 1„ r ` P.O. Box 525 Holualoa, HI 96725 U.S.A. r Phone (808) 331-1188 Fax (808) 331-8689 www.blackpearlsinc.com January 5, 2003 KBWF/KBWF Scope 4 OUTLINE OF AN APPLICATION FOR AN OPEN OCEAN FISH FARM LEASE OFF UNUALOHA POINT, NEAR NELHA, KONA INTRODUCTION Kona Blue Water Farms (KBWF) is requesting permission for an open ocean aquaculture project offshore from the Natural Energy Laboratory, in Kona, Hawaii, for the purposes of tanning native Hawaiian fish. This project will require an Ocean Lease from the State Board of Land and Natural Resources, pursuant to Chapter 190 D (HRS), together with permits from the Department of the Army (ACOE), Coast Guard and State DOT concurrence, and an NPDES permit. Because of its proximity to the Keahole Point International Airport, FAA approval may also be required. KBWF has submitted a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for this site, in anticipation of the need for an accompanying CDUA permit request. This EA is available on our company's web site (www.blackpearlsinc.coin) together with transcripts of some of the meetings we have held over the last two years with conservation, kupuna and shoreline interests of the Keahole area, to discuss this proposal. The outline of the project proposal presented below is intended to stimulate awareness and open up discussion among interested parties. Please refer to the EA on the web (and soon to be available at public libraries) for more detailed information, or else call us or email us. We are grateful for any and all comments and questions, as we move through this consultative process. THE SITE An attached chart shows the area to be requested, which lies offshore from Unualoha Point, about a mile north of Keahole Point. The site is directly offshore from the Natural Energy Laboratory Comm. Na • F51e No.—RES u Ref. To: Props" ^SEOL Ref. Date F F_R 19 7003 of Hawaii Authority (NELHA), and adjacent to the Keahole-Kona International Airport. The site would be located in water between 150 -- 200 feet deep, with primarily sand bottom, and would encompass an area of approximately 81 acres (36 Ha). Most of this area would accommodate the wide spread of the mooring system; the fish farm cages themselves would only occupy the central 9 acres (4 Ha, or 600 ft x 600 ft). An earlier alternative site was considered off Kaloko fish pond, north of Kaloko-Honokohau National Park, but this has been discarded after discussions with Park officials. Other possible sites considered along the Kona Coast have also been dismissed: Kealakekua Bay has a strong recreational use and cultural significance, Kailua Bay is intensively used by commercial and recreational user groups, and areas further north of Keahole Point are exposed to strong trade winds. Many shallower sites would also be subject to high winter surf. Sites further offshore would impact offshore fishing activities and would require impractical and untested mooring arrays, which could not be tended by divers. THE FARM OPERATIONS We intend to rear several species of native fish including, but not limited to mahimahi (Coryphaena hippurus), kalaha (Seriola dumerili), opakapaka (Pristipomoides_filamentosus), ehu (Etelis carbunculus), onaga (E. coruscans), and hapu'u (Epinephelus quernus). Many of these species have been severely overfished in the past, and their stocks are in need of rehabilitation. Culture of these species offers the only viable alternative to continued declines in wild populations and reduced landings by the fishery, as well as providing alternative employment opportunities for commercial fishermen. The farm will consist of the central 9 acre area, containing an array of fish cages. This area will be clearly marked, and will have restricted access, due to security and worker safety concerns. The waters surrounding this area will contain the anchoring lines. Standard industry practice is for mooring lines to have a 3:1 scope ratio, so our mooring lines will need to extend out 600 feet in each direction. This surrounding area of around 72 acres (1,800 ft x 1,800 ft) will have unrestricted surface traffic and fishing, but will exclude diving and anchoring. Our business plan is based on mahimahi as the keystone species, which will require an array of 6 grow -out cages, and two nursery cages. We are requesting permission for three surface cages and three submersible cages. As many of these species have not been previously cultured in offshore environments, the precise size, shape, and type of pen that will best suit our needs is not presently known. Safety and security for the cages are better if they are submersible, but there is some greater risk to workers when these cages are below water, and the monitoring of fish health is not as efficient. We may also need to keep some fish in surface net pens for periods of time (such as during nursery rearing, or harvest). Main activities on the farm will be feeding, size -grading and harvesting the fish. Hatchery and nursery operations for the fish will be based at our NELHA site. Fish will be harvested and sold whole. The area will be lit by navigation lights, as specified by the Coast Guard. The site is generally not subject to boat traffic, being outside of the normal safe transit path of boats rounding the point at night. SALIENT BIOLOGICAL, CULTURAL AND AESTHETIC CONSIDERATIONS The substrate immediately beneath the site is entirely sand, with almost no benthic macrofauna. The site is subject to strong long -shore currents from either the North, or from the South. Any dissolved or particulate effluent from the farm would be quickly dispersed by these currents in the deeper waters, and would have no measurable impact on the coral reef areas that lie directly inshore. Monitoring of the experimental cages in Oahu supports this conclusion; there were negligible impacts on water quality and the benthic community downcurrent from the open ocean cages off Ewa Beach. The nearest land immediately shoreward of the Unualoha site (0.4 miles from the inner net pen area to the shore) is a steep cliff at the edge of an extensive lava field. This area is owned by the state, and administered by NELHA; Cyanotech Corporation is the current leaseholder. Cyanotech plans to eventually extend their microalgae culture ponds to the limits of the NELHA boundary, north of Unualoha Point. The Ho'ona historic site lies over '/< of a mile to the Southeast of the project site. The depth of the site (150 — 200 ft) places it beyond the normal limits of recreational SCUBA diving, and beyond the extent of reef -fishing activities. Coral reefs lie along the shoreline to the east of the site, but these drop very steeply to a depth of 150 feet, within 100 yards of the cliff face. The coral reef area is used by dive tour operators, with two main points of interest: a garden eel (Gorgasia hawaiiensis) bed lies at a depth of around 60 feet in Makako Bay (2/3 of a mile to the Southeast), and night dives view the manta rays which aggregate in shallow water (around 40 feet deep) along the reef. The site lies well inshore of the normal 'ono alley', which lies between the 240 foot and 300 foot depth contours. The only fishing activity within this depth range is for Kona crab, nabeta (razor - fish, Xyrichthys spp), and weke ula (deep -water goat fish, Mulloidichthys sp). This site is rarely fished because of the strong currents; extensive grounds within this same depth profile lie further north. The Keahole fishing grounds for marlin and tuna lie further to the west from the site, and would not be impacted by the farm activities. Keahole Point itself is over 1.1 miles to the South. Humpback whales and other marine mammals may occasionally pass through the site, but the taut line moorings and taut web mesh on the net pens render any risk of entanglement negligible. There is no record of marine mammal entanglement in fish farm gear in the U.S. — most entanglements are with slack -line fishing gear, such as long -lines, drift -nets or crab pot lines. The site lies within the Humpback Whale Sanctuary, and Federal permits for the project must be consistent with the Sanctuary guidelines. Commercial activities are expressly permitted within the Sanctuary, so long as they represent no detriment to the whale population (CFR 15, Sect.922.180). Spinner dolphins frequent the Makako Bay area, but their diumal migrations into and out of the bay would not be impeded by the offshore farm site. Dolphins have been observed swimming under, over and around similar experimental cages in Oahu, and appear to be neither attracted nor repelled by the cage presence. There would be negligible visual impact from the farm. Surface net pens will probably not be visible from boats on the fishing grounds, against the backdrop of the lava cliffs. On clear days, surface net pens may be visible from the upland residential districts (Kala'oa and Kaloko), but will not represent a significant visual impact, given the existing surrounding environment of the airport and the Natural Energy Lab. Submersible cages will not be visible at all, except for the small apex of the cone. Traditional Hawaiian society had a highly -developed system of fish ponds for aquaculture. The area immediately mauka of the proposed site was, in pre -contact times, the site of the most extensive fish pond in the entire Hawaiian Islands. These ponds were covered by the 1801 lava flow that now extend over the airport and NELHA areas. We believe that open ocean fish farming offers great potential for Kona, in the continuation of this tradition. It is a rational, sustainable development of Hawaii's marine resources, offering a high-value product, opening up local employment opportunities, and aiding in the diversification of our economy. Kona Blue Water Farms A Division of Black Pearls, Inc. P.O. Box 525 Holualoa, HI 96725 U.S.A. Phone (808) 331-1188 Fax (808) 331-8689 www.blackpearlsinc.com January 31, 2003 R.e.: UPDATE ON KBWF'S PROPOSAL FOR AN OPEN OCEAN FISH FARM OFF UNUALOHA POINT, KONA We have spent the last two years in discussions with the community, kupuna from the area, shoreline interests and other conservation groups. As yet, we have not encountered any strong objections to our proposal. However, there has been some opposition to the proposed Ahi Nui tuna farm, in Kohala. For clarification, we would like to provide the following brief update on our project, and its potential impacts : • We will only culture species native to Hawaii. Initially, we will grow mahimahi and kahala (amberjack). We hope to expand this to opakapaka, ehu, and hapu'upu'u, as we develop the hatchery techniques through our research program. All of our farmed fish will be hatchery - reared. We will only feed our fish with pellet food, and we will only have six grow -out cages in a central 9 acre area. • Opposition to offshore fish farming is usually fueled by two types of disinformation. Firstly, the environmental impacts of aquaculture are often misrepresented, using data based on outdated practices in the salmon farming industry from Norway of Canada from 20 or more years ago. These opinions choose to ignore the dramatic new developments in engineering in the last five years that now allow fish farming to move offshore, into the open ocean. The moi farm off Ewa Beach, for example, is now producing over 5,000 lbs of moi per week, yet it has had almost no measurable effect on water quality, and no effect on the nearby coral reefs. • Secondly, some members of the community have a sense that leasing and monitoring of open ocean aquaculture will be an unregulated, ad hoc process that will favor development interests to the detriment of the environment. There is little public awareness about the rigorous State requirements and Federal oversight of the leasing process, under Chapter 190 D (HRS). These include: ■ a State CDUA permit (with accompanying EA or EIS), which includes extensive consultation with the community, and assessment of any potential impacts, public hearings, and separate Land Board approvals of both the project, and the lease terms, • a State DOH Clean Water Branch permit, under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, with terms defined by the Federal Clean Water Act, and with oversight by EPA, • a Federal Department of the Army Permit, issued by Army Corps of Engineers, for compliance with all Federal regulations, including oversight by USFWS (for endangered species), NMFS (for marine mammals), and Coast Guard (for impacts on navigation), • a State DOH Solid Waste Disposal permit, for any solid wastes generated, and ■ a State Aquaculture License, with regular reporting requirements, for commercial culture of any State -regulated species. • To keep in compliance with these permits, we will have to establish a regular monitoring and reporting system for : • all relevant water quality parameters (turbidity, nitrogen, phosphorus, etc), • benthic communities (including fish, corals and other invertebrates on the sand substrate below the farm, and the inshore coral reefs), • any interaction between the farm and endangered species or marine mammals, • numbers, status, and disposition of any State -regulated species The principals in KBWF — Dale and Neil - are both biologists. We live here in Kona, and we dive, surf and fish in these waters. Our hatchery facility — and the future of our fish farm - relies on the cleanliness of the water that comes through the NELHA system. We believe that open ocean fish farming offers great potential for Kona. It is a rational, sustainable development of Hawaii's marine resources, offering a high-value product, opening up local employment opportunities, and aiding in the diversification of our economy. It can and should be closely integrated with aquaculture activities at NELHA. For more information, please review our draft EA on the web, or contact either : Dr Dale Sarver, President, or Neil Anthony Sims V.P. / Research Director Figure 1: Proposed offshore farm lease site. The proposed farm site lies south-west of Unualoha Point, in waters between 150 and 200 feet deep. The cages will be around 2000 ft from the shoreline. The total area of water surface covered by the proposed Farm Lease Area is approximately 32 hectares, or 81 acres. Most of this area would contain the anchor lines (shown below as dotted lines), which require a scope of around 4:1 (480 to 680 ft long, if the anchors are attached at a point on the cages 30 ft beneath the surface). An inner, restricted area of around 9 acres (the "central safety buffer area", around 3.6 hectares, shown as the solid square) would contain an array of net pens for holding the fish. Figure 2: Proposed offshore fish farm site and primary fishing areas The site is well inside of both the 100 fathom (200 m) trolling ledge along the "grounds" offshore of Keahole Point, and the 40 fathom (80 m) ono lane. Reef fishing and `opelu ko'a are found well inshore of the proposed site, along the edge of the reef, in waters up to 120 feet deep (40 m). Fishing grounds for `opelu at night are usually deeper than 40 fathoms (80 m). Figure 3: Typical net pen anchoring arrays Figures 3 (a) (i) (adjacent page), and 3 (a) (ii) (following page) : Sea Station Submersible cage systems. The farm will use an array of submersible and surface cages. Submersible net pens are preferred because of reduced wear -and -tear on equipment, and less stress on the fish. Net pens will be anchored into the soft substrate using anchors and concrete block weights, in an array similar to that shown below. A series of buoys and weights would ensure that the anchor lines are perpetually taut, to avoid entanglement by marine mammals. "SEA STATIONS SUBMERGED AND ON SURFACE / SUBMERGEO UNITS 20 BELOW SURFACE AT TOP WATER DEPTH 150'-200' BOTTOM ELEVATION r--------------------------------------------------------- -------- LEASEBOUNDARY I I -----------------------------LEASE DEPTH APROY. 150" � I I I I I 3000 CU M/ SEA STATION \ I I -TYPICAL ANCHOR LINE / < 1 SCOPE AT 200 FT. DEEP TYPICAL I / 1 I i � I , NORTH > CAGE BOUNDARY ---- --------- - � I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 1 I I I I � I I , � VJY. AL1/ � I I -GP.ID FOR SI% UNITS I � FARM OVERVIEW � \r- PREVAILING CURRENT � OST 3000 M3 SEA STATH UNUALOHA POINT, NORTH KONA - s <_ KONA BLUE WATER FARMS I SSIX3000 1 ? FIT 10-21-01 GFL _ DEPTH APRON. 200" L_______________________________ The principals in KBWF — Dale and Neil - are both biologists. We live here in Kona, and we dive, surf and fish in these waters. Our hatchery facility — and the future of our fish farm - relies on the cleanliness of the water that comes through the NELHA system. We believe that open ocean fish farming offers great potential for Kona. It is a rational, sustainable development of Hawaii's marine resources, offering a high-value product, opening up local employment opportunities, and aiding in the diversification of our economy. It can and should be closely integrated with aquaculture activities at NELHA. For more information, please review our draft EA on the web, or contact either : Dr Dale Sarver, President, or Neil Anthony Sims V.P. / Research Director REVISION DATE TCOMMOM GRID AT 30 DEPTH LARGE SUBMERED FLOATS ON GRID PERIMETER RESIST DOWNWARD COMPONENT OF ANCHOR LINE TENSION DEPTH 150'1 4:1 ANCHOR LINE SCOPE HEAVY DRAG EMBEDMENT ANCHOR TO SUIT BOTTOM TYPE NORTH ELEVATION == PREVAILING CURRENT 1 ♦ V C Figure 3: Typical net pen anchoring arrays (continued) Figure 3 (b): Polar Circle floating cage system. Surface cages may be needed for some of the species that are under development, where nursery or harvesting requirements cannot be met by submersible cages. This figure shows a typical surface net pen array. _ - 3 - 2 3 j4� y �