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Murashige, Laura
From: Sydney Singer [ssinger@coconut-wireless.net]
Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2009 9:05 AM 809 JUL q 9 70
To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us; enaeole@co.hawaii.hi.us; genriques@co.hawaii.hi.us;
kgreenwell@co.hawaii.hi.us; dyagong@co.hawaii.hi.us; dikeda@co.hawaii.hi.us (%Ljj':
jyoshimoto@co.hawaii.hi.us; phoffmann@co.hawaii.hi.us; donishi@co.hawai]A~66V ,jj
bford@co.hawaii.hi.us; sydsinger@gmail.com; savetheguava@gmail.com
Cc: dbock@hawaiitribuneherald.com; David Corrigan; news@hawaii247.org
Subject: Testimony on Resolution 80-09, Banning biocontrol against relatives of the o'hia
Please SUPPORT Resolution 80-09, banning the use of biocontrol against species relative to the o'hia.
Biocontrol has been used, on and off, for the past century. It goes out of favor each time accidents happen, and
then comes back in favor as people see that our forests need attention and care, and biocontrol is again sold as a
"last resort".
Despite scientific advances in biocontrol research, researchers today are still guessing about the impacts of
introducing alien insects, fungi, bacteria, or viruses into the Hawaiian environment.
We are told how introducting alien species into our environment is potentially devastating, and yet that is
exactly what biocontrol is. It is supposed to devastate only its "target", but there are never guarantees.
It could become an invasive species nightmare, as we have seen in the past.
How fast they mutate and adapt to our Hawaiian micro-environments will always be unknown. We cannot tell the
future, except to realize that all things evolve, and insects, fungi, bacteria, and viruses can evolve very quickly,
within a few years to a few decades.
Biocontrol against relatives of the o'hia, which is in the myrtle family, will therefore endanger the o'hia. It is only a
matter of time, which could be quite short.
The o'hia are already suffering from a fungus (Puccinia rust) and a gall forming insect, among other problems.
Infesting the forests with alien insects or fungi will create an unhealthy forest, inviting the invasion of other alien
species that might harm the o'hia.
There are alternatives in forest management to releasing alien species. Many myrtles are valuable species, and
their only environmental "crime" is that they escaped cultivation and went wild. Harvesting from the wild is
possible and can create jobs and industry. Just turn the "weeds" into a "resource".
Mahalo,
Sydney Ross Singer Comm. No Z24' V
Director, Institute for the Study of Culturogenic Disease Ref. To,
Ref. Date _4 0 7:2009
7/2/2009
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P.O. Box 1880, Pahoa, HI 96778
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7/2/2009