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Murashige, Laura { }
From: John Daley pdaley808@gmail.com] 213119 JUL 1 Ran 1o ?I
Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 2009 9:43 AM
To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us Cl1Li. ^i r,.~
Subject: Ban Biocontrol .C)l%fV l r u„ -GCd]
To the Hawaii City Council,
The plan to release an alien insect on the Big Island to attack strawberry guavas trees is the
wrong approach to the problem. Creating plant disease with a destructive alien insect is not a
good solution for anything.
That is why I support the resolution to ban biocontrol against relatives of the o'hia. The
o'hia is in the myrtle family, and the concern is that insects and fungi
that are used in biocontrol against other myrtle trees, such as the
strawberry guava, guava, paperbark tree, surinam cherry, eucalyptus,
and many others related to the o'hia, could evolve very quickly to
pose a threat to the o'hia, which is the dominant tree of Hawaii's
forests.
httrr.//records.co.hawaii.hi.us/weblinVQocView.aspx?id=55424
We have seen the Hawaiian ecosystem degraded by all kinds of alien
species; mongooses, coquis, fruit flies, mosquitos, and invasive
plants, etc., and now we are going to introduce an insect from Brazil
to solve a problem that could potentially cause bigger problems?
I lived in a rainforest in the 70s on the island of Puerto Rico with
coqui frogs, but they were not a problem like they are here.
Something was checking the population of the coquis there. Although
the Big Island Ag. Dept. recently sent someone to Puerto Rico to find
a solution to check the coqui population here, they came up empty.
What are the guarantees that this insect won't proliferate, mutate, and
find other trees to attack? Is there something checking the population
of these insects in South America? This alien insect has the potential
Gomm. No. " ' 4
Ref. Tos
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to be another ecological disaster for The Big Island. Both insects and
funguses can mutate and change hosts.
Also, if anything happens to break down the shipping from the
mainland, Hawaii is not going to have enough food to feed everyone
here. So, why destroy millions of fruit trees?
Big Island supermarkets sell bananas from Central America. There is
so much land here, long growing climates, and Hawaii can't even
grow enough bananas and vegetables to feed the population here? It's
ludicrous.
Years ago, Mayor Yamashiro leased thousands of acres of land for
10¢-an-acre for Eucalyptus tress. The Friends of Hamakua were
really upset that they were never given such an opportunity for
diversified agriculture.
The global and local economy is in crisis. It is not the time to destroy
all this fruit. It would better to find another solution rather than
release this destructive alien insect on the Big island.
Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter,
John Daley
idaley808@gmail.com
808-982-5411
7/1/2009