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Home My WebLink About2022_07_19 Game Management Advisory Commission Minutes Game Management Advisory Commission County of Hawai’i Minutes – final draft Meeting Date/Time: July 19, 2022, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm Place: By Zoom from the Office of the Mayor, 25 Aupuni Ctr., Suite 2603, and at the West nd Hawaii Civic Center, Bldg C, Conf. Rm. C, 2 FL., as the site for the public in-person meeting. 1. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL: The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm District 1 - Vacant District 2 - Kean Umeda, Via Zoom District 3 – Rhon Leomana Turalde, in-person - Hilo District 4 – Brian Ley – in person - Hilo District 5 - Abraham Antonio, in person - Hilo District 6 – Austin Griffey, in person - Kona District 7 - Vacant District 8 – Cortney Okumura, via Zoom District 9 - George Donev, via Zoom Quorum Established STAFF: Diana Mellon-Lacey, Deputy Attorney, Corporation Counsel Sylva Wan, Deputy Attorney, Corporation Counsel Tim Hansen, Executive Assistant to Mayor Roth Barbara Kossow, Administrative Specialist Mayor’s Kona Office 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: May 17, 2022 Action: Motion made by L. Turalde to approve the May 17, 2022 minutes as circulated. Seconded by B. Ley. Motion carried by voice vote, unanimously. 3. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: (Limited to 3 minutes). Chair Antonio welcomes anyone that may want to say something regarding an agenda item may do so anytime throughout the meeting. Chair Antonio welcomed the following statements from the public. Tara Rojas: Aloha, I just want to say that, you know, as always, like the a’ole “HogStop” I did get to speak with Kaui Lucas today and Lauren, the wife of Brad who is, you know, from “HogStop” and Kaui said she did want to follow-up, touch base and have one like hybrid community meeting with everybody on board – like the “HogStop” people, herself and then the community, the gatherers so maybe, hopefully at the Waiwai so can be in person and on Zoom. And just, you know, a’ole “HogStop” because what I heard just really needs to be brought to the broader community and 1 get the solution going and basically that’s it. So a’ole “HogStop” because it’s not a like a end all – it was just her like I don’t know – one way from what I heard – a solution to what she was hearing with people who contacted her but still gotta get with her in the same room and no can bring this thing, cause this is how mongooses bring in, how the cattle egrets were brought in and everything so stop ‘em now while it’s early. Stop ‘em now and get everybody in the same room. And that’s it, Mahalo. Alfred Medeiros: Aloha mai kakou, Alfred Keaka Hiona Medeiros. I’m over here on Oahu. Ah first question that I get for you guys, how does one be a part of this, how does one be in that district cause there’s many empty districts it seems, so that’s just one question I’d like to find out – how can people get involved ‘cause we have many hunters out there that I’m sure would volunteer their time, and that’s one way for people to be informed about this, as many people are unaware about it. Ah, secondly, of course, we chime in about “HogStop.” More needs to be done, more needs to be brought to the public’s notice about this and there needs to be a law that needs to be implemented for it to be banned completely and make it illegal for them to actually use in Hawaii. We shouldn’t be waiting, like how we’ve been waiting for Red Hill – because we found out later on that our water was poisoned. This needs to be told now, to the public and it needs to be brought up in a legislative form where we need to make it illegal for anybody to bring in this type of stuff. It’s the same thing with suntan lotion and lotion that people are using for sunscreen in the ocean, right? They put laws together to ban certain things from happening in Hawaii, so we need to do more –and as I said, if there’s an open position – I’ll volunteer the time for District 1, District 8, District whatever out there. You know what I mean, ah, we need our people to be more involved. Mahalo. (Technical Difficulties) AA: OK. Thank you. Alfred, you like to continue on where you stay – where you left off or you going… AM: I was kinda good already – more need to be done – I’m not too sure who’s really agreeing on this thing in the first place because at the meeting at the DLNR office nobody wanted it – they said they didn’t want it too on the GMAC so I don’t know where this idea came from, who’s implementing it – it seems like it’s out-sourced, of course, it’s transplants – it’s people that’s not from here that does not know tradition – does not recognize our culture as kanaka maoli and they need to understand that. This is our way of life, besides, gathering for our food – this is what we teach our Keiki of what to do for the future generations so they can provide food for their ohana, you know, I mean, I’m sure you guys are gonna hear this all the time, I’m sure you guys are gonna see the text messages, the emails, the videos on social media but I guess more needs to be done, more awareness needs to be brought up. There’s no testing that needs to be \[unclear\] on this thing called Hog Stop. Do you want Hog Stop? So many hunters out here – they can stop any hog, guaranteed. No Hog Stop. Yeah. So, Mahalo to you guys over there – just doing what you guys need to be doing to protect our aina, to protect our food and our natural resources, and Mahalo to all the hunters out there – keep on hunting. AA: Also, there’s a state Game Management Commission that our Hawaii County Game Management Commission went help push through legislation, and if that’s the meeting that all you guys were on last month. The State GMAC, so originated not from me personally or the 2 commission members that are here right now but from our predecessors, right, so there are vacancies on Maui County and also on West Side Hawaii Island. To apply go on to the state DLNR website and you go look under Boards and Commissions and you sent in your application. There are those that applied that I know – they’ve been waiting over a year – there’s some kind of hold up that was brought up – the question was brought up at that GMAC meeting, we’re just waiting for a response – I reached out to our legislators and stuff to call the Governor’s office and see where’s this hold up and where’s this blockage to get those applications filled and there’s no response yet from that too, so, you know, if you guys like apply, right now is Maui County and there’s West Side of Big Island, right, Kona side, that’s the two vacant positions – other than that everything else is filled up. OK, moving on… AM: Mahalo. BL: Brian Ley– District 4. Hey I just wanted to say is we’ve had past board members and chairmen that didn’t hunt or fish but were just very adamant for the outdoor community that has seen big supporters so, you know, I just don’t want to close the door on everybody ‘cause we have people that don’t hunt and don’t fish who love our game animals and put their heart and soul into this too. Anybody that’s for the game animals we would love to see. We would rather have a position not be open ‘cause if we don’t have a quorum we’re not going anywhere so we would rather, you know, we’ve got to have the spots filled regardless, of course, we’d want a hunter first but if we can’t find anybody we’ll take anybody just to keep quorum, so, I appreciate everybody’s interest and output today. AA: Moving to TJ. Some kind of background noise coming from your side. Please continue. TJ: Yeah, how’s it going everybody… You know, basically, I wanted to talk about Hog Stop \[unclear\] support of it and the reason why I’m not in support of it is because, you know, the environmental impact statements I’ve tried to find everything I could online – I never seen any environmental that was done here in Hawaii. If you search, you look – you won’t find it. \[Technical problems\] TJ: OK, when I look at the – when I’m trying my hardest to find the environmental impact statements regarding this product and you won’t find it – it’s not out there. I’ve called the company directly – they don’t even have it. I called Texas, I spoke to some of the guys out there for using it, and surprisingly where this product was created, the farmers out in Texas don’t even want to use it because of the impact that it has on the cattle, you know, we’re not just talking hogs, we’re talking everything that is able to give birth to an animal. We’re talking about birds that can lay eggs, it impacts everything, you know? And then the cultural aspect – there’s not a cultural impact statement that was made either. How does that affect the Hawaiian people that look at Kamapuaa as the fertility god and how ironic that this product is like an attack on our culture. Some of us take that stuff seriously, more than other people in the world and, you know, for us it’s like that’s our life, that’s our blood, that’s our lifeline and, when I look at Hog Stop it’s counterproductive anyway, you know, these people who are using this Hog Stop to prevent pigs from coming to their property – which is ultimately what they want – it’s not gonna stop them from coming – you’re feeding the Stop to hogs – they just gonna keep coming and, so, they got to understand that it’s not gonna stop the pigs from coming so it’s counterproductive. It’ll stop them from reproducing. I just don’t want to be redundant in what 3 everybody’s saying I just wanted to come across with that two points because of time but, yeah, I’m not in support of it, and this product should be dispensed in a controlled environment out of feeders and I’m 100% - I put money down – that that lady who is promoting this – she’s not gonna be out there making sure that people aren’t broadcasting this stuff all over the aina, you know what I mean, it starts getting into our water ways, affecting fish, everything in our water systems, and, so, having said that – that’s where I stand – not support and I yield back… AA: Thank you. As T.J. mentioned to keep the redundancy down. If you guys just going pretty much repeat what he just said, just state that you are not in support of Hog Stop verbally – just state your name, so we can move on. We will keep track of how many people is against it so we can move it forward in our County. Next person if anybody else like raise their hand… Please state your name. Aaron Aruso: A’ole Hog Stop. Mark Loando: I represent \[unclear\] Archery Club and I’m totally against this for one reason cause if you go start with Hog Stop – what going be next? The sheep? The goat? What else? We want to stop it in the track right now. That’s our opinion. Thank you. Kiara Lorenzo Rodriquez: I want to say a’ole to Hog Stop. I know some of you got to watch Auntie Tara’s live but I just wanted to go over some key things that Kalu Lucas – one of the main ladies who are bringing in Hog Stop – she said that, she claims that there’s nothing – that it doesn’t affect the water and it’s not getting into our water – but my question to her is how can she account for every single part of Hog Stop put out into the aina – she can’t – and at the end of the day we see our water is rising – we see how much rain we got – obviously, this all of this is gonna go into the aina and then it’s gonna go into our wai and then affect our fisheries, our limu so we have to as hunters, as fishermen come together and say a’ole Hog top. Mahalo. Teresa Nakama: Like everybody else, we’ve researched it and this is a take from one of Hog Stop’s printing on the Internet. “According to Hog Stop the feed itself can affect fertility in other animals and should only be used in recommended feeders to keep birds and other animals out. The Pig Hunters Association of Oahu is skeptical about the feed because they eat what they catch.” And he said, “And I feel that shouldn’t be used because we use the meat for different type of cooking the products,” as stated by the President of the Pig Hunter’s Association of Oahu. But the company said pigs who consume HogStop should pose no additional health risks and what I feel that they’re doing is minimizing the effect which they shouldn’t be stating at all and they stated that the Hawaiians have no relationship with the feral pigs of Hawaii and has no connection to Hawaiian traditions and customs. But, they forget that we do have the story of Kamapua’a – ran away without ever returning to the land. He protects pigs in Kohala, he protects the abundance of Hawaii, but more than anything, he protects the pain of a wounded heart and this is from the legendary story. Other alternatives? And there is such an alternative – like those who do pest control – there’s an Aloha commercial pest control that does professional pig removal. So we should look at other alternatives and a’ole to pig HogStop. Mahalo. 4 Brian Ogawa: I am against that Hog Stop for the thing is the pig is some people’s aumakua, yeah? So there is a direct connection to the culture. Mahalo. Roy Kainoa: Roy Kainoa President of the Pig Hunter’s Association of Oahu and a’ole to Hog Stop. AA: Any other comments from the public? CO: Chair (Antonio), this is Cortney in District 8. I just had a question in the chat – maybe this is for the Corp Counsel – some are asking if their opinions in Chat will be counted in the minutes? They’re having some – slow Internet problems. SW: Yeah, I – we have a way of – the rules allow for written testimony, but I don’t know if the rules are specifically contemplated in the chat… CO: I don’t know if Barbara has access, I mean… SW: If Barbara has access to the Chat then we could submit it as written testimony. Want to ask Barbara over in Kona… AA: Abraham – District 5. We don’t really have any access to the Chat so if you guys responding to, hold on, our temporary IT guy checking the syst ?: I like give my mana’o… Can? AA: Ah, hold on… Yeah, just state your name. Selfry Stanton: Stanton my last name. I’m junior. Aloha. From today’s conversation with \[unclear\] on the phone with the lady from Hog Stop, what she mentioned was all this stuff that seems food in it but what she said had Roundup C \[unclear\]. Roundup. When you use that word Roundup brings a big, big question mark to me, ‘cause we all know Roundup is one poison, and if that is poison nothing, nothing good comes out of Roundup. \[Unclear\] those pigs do not have babies – they not produce – but, so, now everything else they going use that for whatever else so down the line \[unclear\] to da kine – the resource, right? But, yeah, so, I want to help stop… Clayton Kubo: Clayton Kubo Waimea, Kauai. OK, so going get one \[unclear\] meeting on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. Abraham, you get the link, ah, whoever like join in – as far as I understand going get – what is that the Wahine from Oahu – called distributor. And, as for me, I’m a hunter-gatherer on the island of Kauai. I say no to Hog Stop seriously. Mahalo Nui – have a good one. Aloha. 5 BL: Brian Ley– District 4. Hey, Clayton or anybody else out there if you could put a link in the Chat room – for that meeting on Thursday, I know I got a link but I got a meeting somewhere else so if somebody could put that in the Chat room for everybody else that would be appreciated. CK: That’s going be pretty hard for me so, you know, Abraham if you can share ‘em then would be awesome. I not too Akamai on that kind stuff. AA: OK. Will do. AG: Austin Griffey, District 6 (Kona) – We are against Hot Stop. I got a room full of Hog Stoppers right here. AA: OK, ah, Austin, like I said, just for stop the repeating– the redundancy – just have them state their name ‘cause I get one bunch of guys over here too – just have them state their names and then have that person sign the paper for support or not support of Hog Stop. So just have them verbally state their name and in support or not in support and also have them sign that paper. AG: Sounds good, we’ll get that going. AA: OK, so, let me finish up with the guys on Zoom, and then I go have the guys over here, and then it’ll jump back to you guys Austin, thanks… AG: OK. Cool… AA: Anybody else from the public via Zoom? Go ahead, Dexter. Dexter Egdamin: Dexter over in Hilo. I’m against Hog Stop. Thank you. BL: Brian – District 4 again. Our IT guy is going to type in the information in the Chat room. I gave him the information for that meeting on Thursday so he’s gonna type it in, so… Keep an eye for it in the Chat. Thank you. Keoni Peyton: Ah, my name is Keoni Peyton. I am in opposition to Hog Stop. Also, I’d like to know how it was brought into Hawaii because I know feeding feral animals is illegal. So how does that work? If we could introduce maybe colonizer stock? Dawnelle Forsythe: A concerned citizen. I just want to say my opposition to Hog Stop. I – not to be redundant but I’m concerned, again, about – I am a person that actually eats the meat and I’m really concerned and because we have Corporation Counsel here and the entire public here bringing our concern – I want to see that you guys do follow up with the County Council on drafting that legislation – I see that is in your New Business but seeing that we’re all giving our concern, I’m giving that concern – I want to see that you guys can draft that legislation in banning the use of Hog Stop and possibly banning it within the entire state, again, as a concerned citizen going on record, saying that I actually consume some of this meat – letting you know that I already am afraid to – 6 not knowing if this product is in this pig that I eat – please if you could keep us updated on drafting legislation to ban this product in the entire state of Hawaii. Thank you. GD: Donev – District 9. Thank you, Dawnelle – we will read the draft letter we currently have in the motion before the discussion on potential legislation – so we’ve already taken that step and, of course, we’ll keep everyone updated with the next steps after that, so, if anyone has time from the public to stick around, you might want to hear what’s in this letter and… DF: Thank you so much. Thank you… AA: Thanks, George… Anybody else from Zoom? B. Medeiros… Bobbylyn Medeiros: A’ole to Hog Stop. Alvin Chong: Aloha, Alvin Chong from Waimea Big Island against Hog Stop, please. Keep everything wild. AA: Thank you. Anybody else on Zoom. OK, last call… Ah, Hilo office any people from the public? State your name. Charles Kaleo IV: thth Hi, my names is Charles Kaleo the IV. 4 generation kanaka. My son is the 5, my grandson is th the 6, ah, this Hog Stop, you going put ‘em in feeders \[unclear\] they going fall on the ground. Everything going eat ‘em – no matter what. And what they going do with all the residue from ‘em – it going into our aquifer, into our river, \[unclear\] our prawns, our crayfish, our opae, the \[unclear\] and then into the ocean. Besides that, the diversion of water out of our rivers go into the kalo patches – those two, excuse me – haoles – \[unclear\] like lettuce. All the kind food because they’re vegetarians, vegans, they going all – it going hit everybody, every single person whether you would like eat meat or you not. This thing bothers me – a’ole Hog Stop 100 million percent. AA: State your name… Jaerick Medeiros Gracia: Ah, Mahalo everybody for stepping up and a’ole Hog Stop. I’m against Hog Stop too. A’ole Hog Stop for me but I know that we’re at a Game Management Commission right now and I think we can come up with ways to trump these guys if we just come up with one Game Management Plan – right? And that is everybody gets together and, try, and maybe do some kind of tagging system where we – you know, three different tags – yeah – sow, male, ah, males, boys and lauhole, you know, this is where we can start trying to control it if we put our heads together and try and go out there and take a count. That way we can come and trump these guys that want to try do something without any studies so the idea is to come up with solutions and I think that would be the first step and everybody get into groups like how we got the Pig Hunters Association in Honolulu, you know, we should have one on every island, but, you know, we get guys going out there and not just raping ‘em and shooting small or, you know, we all got to come to an agreement what size should be taken but also tag ‘em, cut the ears, cut the balls, do 7 everything – like we used to do back in the day. After all, the lauholes come out nice and healthy, yeah, no more that smell on the meat and, you know, I think coming forward with a solution would be best, ah, so that we can end up trumping these guys when they want to just throw something at us like this Hog Stop what has no EIS done or EA or, you know, we got to be part of the solution and let’s try and get everybody get together so we can take a count in different areas of how much pigs – so much, you know, like – just an idea of how much there is but as long as we tag ‘em and we can start doing our own data collecting I think that in itself speaks volumes and, yeah, let’s try work out something in that effect. Mahalo hauoli… Gerard De Lima: From Hilo, Hawaii. So, I mean, everybody over here – most of these guys – they’re all professionals at what they do to feed their families. The problems that we have is because these people are limited to where they can access and what they can access. So if you put limitations on what people can gather and then you feed pigs in residential neighborhoods and create problems and then try to come up with a solution by getting rid of the pigs that people survive off – I mean, I’m a pig farmer. I’m a professional, you know what I mean? Like when it comes to pigs – this is what I do. I trap pigs – but the whole problem is you cannot create one problem and then come up with a solution instead of trying to come up with a better problem – I mean a better solution to the bigger problem. You cannot just create problems in feeding animals and not expecting problems, you know what I mean like for your neighbors, for yourself, for everybody else, so, yeah, I’m against Hog Stop. Letting you guys deal with them. Alvin Ainoa: For my kids \[unclear\] HogStop – negative – my kids not going be \[unclear\]. Ashton \[unclear\] I represent for the Island of Oahu, Waianae, I represent Big Island too and the hunters and gatherers and I am against Hog Stop 100%. Kanoe Tan: Aloha, my name is Kanoe Tan and I’m against the Hog Stop, Mahalo. I’m from Puna District. Charlene Merseberg: I am from Holualoa and I am against Hog Stop. I have another party here that wants to testify too. Britt Merseberg: I’m Charlene’s daughter. I am also against Hog Stop just because we rely – a lot of ohana rely on local game from providing for our deep sea voyaging canoe like Makalii to go and feed our deep sea voyagers to perpetuate Hawaiian culture and it would really be a loss if we don’t have our wild game to hunt. Newt Windward: I’m just against Hog Stop. Pretty much that’s food for plenty people and it’ll \[unclear\] not just one thing \[unclear\]. That’s it. Thank you. Debbie Ann Mariani: 8 I’m against Hog Stop. AA: All right, thank you. Hawaii County Parks and Recreation Director Maurice Messina going give a presentation on the update on the Laupahoehoe Boat Ramp Closure. Maurice are you on? 4. PRESENTATION: a. Hawai’i County Parks and Recreation Director Maurice Messina will present an update on the Laupahoehoe Boat Ramp closure. MM: Yes. So we recently had a meeting in Laupahoehoe with the community in the area talking about the Laupahoehoe Boat Ramp which is under County jurisdiction and the break wall which is under federal jurisdiction – it’s the Army Corps of Engineers is working to put a plan together to repair. We were – over the years – discussed, you know, how can we do the wall repair, and break wall repair, and until recently it was recommended that we would hold off on the boat ramp \[unclear\]. Army Corps of Engineers has a chance to do the break wall. But that has since changed through the Army Corps and so we have put in for our Capital Improvement Budget the 6 million dollars in CIP - yet to be funded but we did put the request in to repair the Laupahoehoe Boat Ramp. As we all know on this call – Hamakua stretches over 40 miles and Laupahoehoe Boat Ramp is the central launching point and it’s basically the only boat launching point within 20 miles in either direction. It’s not only used for fishing and gathering, it’s also used for rescue. The Fire Department – I believe I got this correct but the Fire Department – their area of responsibility is within 3 nautical miles of the shore – anything outside of that goes over to the Coast Guard. At the last community meeting that we held, we talked \[unclear\] from the Hamakua Coast and have launched boats out of the Laupahoehoe Boat Ramp themselves over the last couple of years to actually rescue boaters and \[unclear\] the ocean. Right now the Army Corps of Engineers they’re working on what’s called a major maintenance report – the major maintenance report is required for them to decide exactly what needs to be done to fix the break wall – the breakwater. They’ve got an 8.5-million-dollar threshold on this, which means anything above that – it has to go up their chain of command to the federal level – to Congress – and when that happens they’re asking for a bunch of letters of support. Basically, why and how the Laupahoehoe Ramp is important to the public. They’re asking for individual letters of support, talking about how it’s for the greater good of the community. That’s what we’re working on right now. We’re gonna have another meeting coming up in Laupahoehoe with the community to try to get more support for this measure. So basically we’ve got two tiers of what we’re working on the first tier is the County, working to repair the boat ramp. It will not – what we’re looking for is not the traditional repair that you would normally see where it’s gonna be the concrete pour – just a one component slab which is what’s there now. Over the years, what’s happened is with that concrete pour is the rebar is, um, become predominant in the ocean and has been sharpened by the wave action. So it’s basically if you go out there to the boat ramp now what you’re gonna see are rebar spears – the County has at numerous times we’ve sent welders and cutters into the water to shave off those edges of those spears but it’s become progressively worse so we ended up closing the boat ramp a few years ago but we want to get that boat ramp back open. So our goal is to develop a boat ramp that’s actually gonna be built in sections – that way if a section gets bad we can actually pull that section out and replace the section without shutting down the entire boat ramp for years and years again. We’re gonna do that – we’re working on it while at the same 9 time the Army Corps of Engineers is working on their major maintenance report. I’m gonna put in the Chat once I’m done talking – my email address – and if anybody wants to put a letter of support, we highly encourage it and we really need it because once the Army Corps of Engineers – once it comes back after the report is done and it says it requires over 8.5 million dollars to fix it, again, it needs to go in front of Congress and so we’re gonna be able to show all the letters of support. One recent change that the Secretary of the Army implemented in the repair projects that the Army Corps of Engineers made is they’re no longer just looking at what’s the cost – what’s the return on investment. They’re now also looking at what’s the cultural impact \[unclear\] and so, and all you folks on this call right now – you know what the cultural impact is for not having that boat ramp along the Hamakua Coast. So what I’m asking is if everybody can just send in letters of support – they can be very simple and what we’re also gonna do is once we get that next boat ramp meeting set-up we’re going to – Abraham, I can email you the date and time of when the meeting is gonna be so you guys can all come out and show your support as well but right now we’re basically having a letter writing campaign in the expectation that this report, which the draft should be done about the end of September by the Army Corps of Engineers – is gonna say that it’s gonna require more than 8.5 million dollars to fix the breakwater. So that’s the low down about what we’re looking to do but it’s good news for us and the County that we can go ahead and move forward with getting the funding sources to repair the boat ramp without waiting for the Army Corps of Engineers and their side. And if there are any questions that I can answer please let me know. Thank you, I appreciate it. AA: Ah, yeah, we get one question over here in Hilo… Ah, state your name… JM: Jaerick Medeiros-Gracia. Um, Maurice, a’ole – do thank you, everybody listening to this. You guys got to realize where is Pohakuloa at right now? Where is the EIS at right now? They have no concern of what we want so if you want to get involved with the Army – get the Army involved in this thing just to go throw your funding to us or whatever it is – there’s funding in there for this thing to be repaired – now from high tide mark three miles out that’s the state. Why not have them fund it? The moment we take the federal funding and Congress starts talking on behalf of us – number 1 Congress have no lawful authority within the Hawaiian Kingdom, yeah, the overthrow is illegal, OK, we got to remember that. You can’t be looking into getting the military involved into something and then what – they going use that boat ramp for the military? A’ole. This is why it’s important that everybody show up to this kind of meeting – who knows what if Mitch Roth is not gonna be the mayor – what if Maurice is not gonna be the Parks and Rec Director, you know? Hey, we got to stand up to this kind of foolishness of them trying to get the government to claim our places, you know what I mean guys? You guys got to wake up and pay attention because… AA: Hey, Jaerickt? Stop one promotion of what you trying to push right now. JM: I not pushing nothing it’s a matter of fact… ?: Abraham? AA: Well, that’s a different topic for another time that’s not right now. JM: No, but, this thing is a’ole. \[Unclear\] 10 AA: This is about the Laupahoehoe Boat Ramp it’s not about… JM: Correct, correct… Right, we cannot take funding that’s gonna take away things from us. AA: Well, that’s another topic at another time. JM: Well, a’ole guys… AA: Thank you… LT: Mahalo… ?: This is the perfect place to be discussing this kind of stuff, honestly… ?: Absolutely… AA: No it’s not. ?: Absolutely… AA: Ah, any other comments or public questions for Maurice? ?: How can the public get involved? AA: Wait \[unclear\]. ?: Getting the US military involved… How can we the kanaka get involved to help and contribute to build that instead? Why do we always have to depend on outside sources like the military or the State of Hawaii, DLNR, and all these other people that’s not gonna do anything and do it in time. We already seen this. We’ve been… AA: One thing you can do – you know, the one thing you probably can do it – grab a bunch of guys like Jaerick, you guys all like do something right? Everybody like do something and it’s not only just for the Laupahoehoe Boat Ramp but it’s for everything right? Hunting, fishing… You guys like do something put something together – put one organization together – you rally up all the boys, all the hui – and you know what – hook up with Maurice and then you guys can do all your volunteering and go out and start fricking raising money for the community – that’s what you guys can do and not just for the \[unclear\] for everything – for the Pohiki Boat Ramp – if you guys no like funding from the government then, eh, start making fundraisers and start doing things for the community because you know what, a bunch of you guys just talking… ?: We’ve been doing it cuz… AA: You’re not doing it enough… You’re not doing ‘em enough… 11 ?: Eh brah, \[unclear\] respect cause it’s people like myself that’s one kia’i that’s been actively involved cuz – you shouldn’t even be sitting at the table if you’re not listening to the people – simple as that. AA: I am listening to the people but \[unclear\] over and over again… ?: \[Unclear\] that we no like the government involved because you know what - that’s too much sucking nipple over there. We no need the government’s help. Fuck America and fuck the military – how’s that? CC: Chair we need order. AA: Yeah, getting order. ?: Well, you guys never do that ‘cause I went talk to you right \[unclear\] in person. \[Technical difficulties\] Whose side of the fence you guys on? \[Unclear\] Brah? I \[unclear\] you going find out, Brah. Who is who. Who is for us and who is not. You guys talk the talk but nobody walk the walk. \[Unclear\] ?: Trip us… AA: No more other comments or questions for Maurice. DE: Can I speak? AA: Go ahead Dexter. ?: You do that’s why we get you there for management \[unclear\]. D: Can I speak? ?: That’s why we \[unclear\] you guys… And I don’t f - \[unclear\] on that board – nobody told me nothing about \[unclear\] opening. DE: OK. Can I speak now? AA: Yeah, you can speak. DE: Hey, Maurice so how do we go about doing this if we have to send a letter to Schatz or Hirano or Kahele? MM: The letters can come directly to me and all they have to say is this is the importance of the Laupahoehoe Boat Ramp and the breakwater… Yeah, and, so, again – the county portion is the boat ramp and that’s what we’re gonna fund through the county to fix the boat ramp. The break wall, the breakwater is under federal control and that’s where that money comes from and so I’ll put my email address in the Chat and anybody who sends a letter can just shoot it on my way 12 and, again, it doesn’t have to be really long it just has to say this is why I support the repair of it and this is why – simple like that. DE: And you’ll send the letters on to Schatz and Hirano? MM: No. So what we’re doing is we’re compiling all the letters not only from this but also from the community meetings that we’re holding and we’re sending it to the Army Corps of Engineers – their district office – and they’ll put ‘em along with the package. If it comes back for the major maintenance report that is gonna be more than 8.5 million dollars to repair. DE: Yeah, then it goes to the Feds – so how long before we get any result after the letters are sent? MM: Ah, so right now what we’re waiting on is the major maintenance report that’s supposed to be in draft form by the end of September – once we receive that – that’s when we’ll put everything together and what I’ll do is, I’ll put a monthly tickler to keep reminding the Army Corps of Engineers to give us an update and I can provide that to you guys whenever you need it. DE: OK. Well, with the waters and everything and how, you know, the waves are pumping over there I’m pretty sure it’s gonna end up going over 8.5 million so more than likely we’ll probably end up having to get the Army Corps of Engineers \[unclear\]. MM: That’s what we’re doing right now – it’s basically like a preemptive strike. We know it’s gonna be more and we want to have everything ready to go so it doesn’t delay it any further once that report comes up. DE: Sounds like a plan… Thanks for the information. AA: Keoni you had a question or comment? K: (Did not state name) - I heard you saying that we go raise the money. I pay taxes. OK. So pull ‘em out of my tax money. The government get all this money for Army and RIMPAC and all these silly games out there that none of us want – pull the money from them. How long this going take? You know, five years, four years? We going be like the rail. Give us one boat ramp something that we going actually use. MM: No, I 100% agree with you that’s why we’re not waiting on them for the break wall. Ah, we’re gonna move forward with repairing the boat ramp and that’s our goal. ?: But the boat ramp is in the wrong angle, right? ?: You can ask… K: I give you guys my personal permission to put a rail funding and go fix that boat ramp. Mahalo. GMG: Hey, Maurice? AA: State your name. 13 GMG: Jaerick Medeiros Garcia, sorry, isn’t the boat ramp at a wrong angle in the first place? MM: They did all the breakwater studies and the tide studies and the wave action studies and they’re saying no. They’re saying that it’s in a good spot right now and the Army Corps is not looking to re-do – they’re basically just looking to fix in place the break wall the way it is and to the fishermen that were out there when we were at Laupahoehoe Point last time – they all agreed that, you know, if the break wall is fixed it’ll prevent the negative wave action and it shouldn’t be bothering the boats that much going in and out. GMG: OK. My understanding from the boaters is that the break wall is at a wrong angle and if they’re gonna continue to fix something that is broken it’s gonna always be broken, I mean, you know, we gotta kinda really chose our battles, right, if we’re gonna be using taxpayers’ money, more so, and we really want to stay away from using the federal funds because the fact that, you know, the history is long and it’s real – the struggle is real – I know that – but the fact of the matter is we cannot fix something that’s gonna continue to be broken. MM: Yeah, I understand that as well, you know, when we’re looking at the difference between county dollars, state dollars and federal dollars – it all comes over to jurisdiction. What we can control ourselves in our County is the boat ramp and I personally don’t feel that we need to wait around for the state or the federal government to fix their portion when we can go ahead and start getting, out of our own coffers and fix the boat ramp. I think that’s what we need to do – it’s in the mayor’s sustainability portion of his vision and he understands the importance of the boat ramp which is why we’re looking to move on our portion as soon as we can. We don’t want to delay any further on our portion. If the county was in charge of Pohiki, if that was on County land we would also be making the same rule, but unfortunately, it’s not. What we can control is the Laupahoehoe boat ramp and that’s where we’re moving to fix it. GMG: I appreciate that Maurice, and I not here for just bump edges with you, you know how – but, you know, I just trying to get a clear picture in our head to know what we’re getting ourselves into, I mean, the fact that you say the federals took the federals side, um, is that for them to use for their military actions like RIMPAC and stuff like that, um, you know, we’ve got to have some kind of governance on it – the fact that it’s coming from our taxpayers’ money yet they might be putting up a lot of money on their end but the fact is we really don’t need them – why are we using them – my understanding is high tide mark – three miles out is the state – DLNR. Now how is it them – the one – look at Ige just had a what, 104 million dollars over budget – why not use that? MM: Um, again, I do understand what you’re saying and I, you know, right now our Parks and Rec Department, right, we have 300 facilities island-wide. A lot of our facilities they but up against or are conjoined with either federal government or federal lands or state lands and so a lot of times, what we want to do is what we can take care of with our own county – as far as uses – all I can say is – when it was up and running whatever the uses were at that point I would expect that the same uses are again and if you all remember before it was closed how it was used – once it’s fixed those are gonna be the uses again for it. GMG: All right, thank you Maurice, I appreciate that. 14 MM: Yes, sir, anytime… AA: \[Unclear\] you get your hand up? (The person did not state their name). ?: Yes, thank you. I just meant to say that if we could get signage out of the next meeting at Laupahoehoe or wherever it’s gonna be held, that would be better for our community just because we’ve got so many old timers that don’t go on the Internet and you know just stay in town, so like I said in the Chat suggestions: Papaloa Store, Post Office and maybe \[unclear\] point – cause these old guys are the ones that are trying to keep this up for us and our children. ?: You know, \[unclear\] you’re absolutely right – that was brought up at the last meeting is that we need to do a better job in getting word out about the meeting – a lot of good suggestions and there were some people who volunteered to actually make cardboard signs and informing everybody when the meeting is, um, so between us and the council member – the district council member we’re going to really promote the heck out of this meeting because this is really a positive meeting – it’s how do we get it fixed and how do we… AA: Thank you, Maurice. \[Unclear\] you get your hand up again? M: (This person did not state name). Aloha, I just wanted to comment too about just really the funding because as I’m, you know, been more involved in all of the commissions and county councils and you really got to look at where the funding is coming from so it’s not that – it’s not out there that it’s not related – it all is related, you know, especially when you’re talking about the Army Corps of Engineers and like you know federal funding like everybody was mentioning and, ah, you know, because look at the works that they do – they were in charge to like, you know, the Red Hill. They were in charge of other many things that happen, you know, over history and so you really got to look at that cause it always ties into the funding and one last thing is that – what was I gonna say – oh it just went whew – but you really got to look at just, you know, where it’s coming from and it’s important to fix things, you know, especially if it’s for the lawai’a, you know for those \[unclear\] who need that but also, I know what I was going to mention – but the Army, you know, the lease is up as well in 2029 so we start thinking ahead as well because those are the issues that literally are currently on hand and the reason we bring this up is because there’s a lot of just automatic kind of approving without thinking of things and it’s causing, yeah, just a lot of, a lot issues, so just always, you know, the money is an issue, so just wanted to give that two cents. Mahalo. AA: Thank you. LT: Mahalo. AA: Ah, Manny you get your head up? 15 M: Maurice quick question, after the Corps of Engineers do their inspection there – will they give us options? Like if it’s more feasible financially to just build a new ramp instead of just constantly fixing it like the one you said with the three parts, you know what I mean? MM: Um, so again. They’re not looking to touch the boat ramp. That is county jurisdiction that’s gonna be required – county funding – so they’re not looking at that at all. M: OK. MM: Yeah, my understanding at the hold up for these numerous years was the county didn’t necessarily want to try and fix the boat ramp with a bad breakwater, right, ‘cause it would just degrade it even further but their engineers came out and they said, you know what, it’s not gonna affect it too negatively if we went ahead and started working on the boat ramp and so, again, that’s what we can control in the county – is the boat ramp – so that’s what we want to do – we want to make the boat ramp useable again as soon as possible – so as soon as we can get the funding together, - we do have a contractor that was on contract - I don’t know – five or six years ago when this conversation started – so we have reached back out to them and I think what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna do a new contract with a new scope of work – find out what the cost is gonna be for us and then we go to administration and say – this is how much it’s gonna cost – you want to raise this priority over all the other CIP projects that are out there, you know, for the reasons we’ve already discussed and we need the funding to make it happen. So Army Corps isn’t gonna touch the boat ramp at all – their jurisdiction is strictly the breakwater – that’s what they’re gonna run with… AA: Thank you, Maurice. b. Vice-Chair GMAC Commissioner Brian Ley will report on the Pohoiki Boat Ramp and the Kumukahi Lighthouse access. AA: At this time, we’re going presentation from Vice Chair GMAC Commissioner Brian Ley – he going report on the Pohiki Boat Ramp and the access to the Kumukahi Lighthouse. We had fishermen reach out to our Commission asking when the Kumukahi Road is gonna be reopened. Brian recently went to a Pahoa community meeting so he’s gonna give us an update on that. BL: Brian – District 4. Yeah, they revitalized Pahoa meeting last night. I went there and \[unclear\] McCall – they, it was, ah, this is the low down, of course, when the government’s involved this could be changing everyday but as of last week the design they’re waiting for EAs – that was the predominant thing – EA, EA, EAs – and the reason for the EA even though it was an emergency/a disaster and we just want to put the boat ramp back the way it was - was that they need to do an EA to see how it’s – when they dredge everything – where it’s gonna end up and stuff like that – that’s one of the concerns that they have and, of course, they have funding constraints and they’re expecting the EA to be done in November and in June of 2023 they’re going to open bids and they’re hoping that the Pohiki launch ramp will be open in 2024 – that’s the latest, you know, of course things change everything but as of last week at the revitalized Pahoa and as far as the roads and that’s a FEMA thing, once again, you know, they just kept talking about all the EAs that need to be done, we just need to get the lava off the road and make the road the way it 16 was before the lava and they’re expecting the EA to be done in October and they’re looking at 2025, but they said, hopefully sooner that they will have the roads done that they’re planning on doing, like I said, they’re prioritizing the roads on how they think the roads should be done and what order and what roads should be opened, so that’s the latest and the next time they have a revitalized Pahoa meeting I’ll be there and I’ll get the latest update and I’ll report back to everybody on that. So, thank you, Mahalo. AA: Any quick questions for Brian or comments that he should be asking at the next meeting from the public – anybody here? OK. Moving on –the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, Acting Pesticide Program Manager Greg Takashima – he going be giving us a presentation of for the HogStop in their department. c. Hawaii Department of Agriculture, Acting Pesticide Program Manager Greg Takeshima will discuss the “HogStop” issue. GT: Hi everyone. Thanks for your time, Chair Abraham and Commissioners. I am Greg Takashima on the Pesticides Program under the Department of Agriculture Pesticide Branch – let me know if you folks see what I’m seeing right now. I’ve got a PowerPoint a relatively quick PowerPoint for you folks. AA: Yeah, we see it. GT: Ah, OK. Sorry, first time I’m using my tablet and if you hear kids running around I got two little ones running around in the background so, apologies for that. There we go – it’s starting to look like what I’m thinking it’s supposed to look like. OK. So, you know, just more for the information for everybody’s background information we have the Department of Agriculture – we don’t promote any particular products – we’re here to provide regulatory information for you folks and just to get things started to let you guys know what Pesticides Branch does – what is a pesticide? It’s defined both by federal and state laws – those are the two references for the specific definitions of a pesticide but the pesticide by quotes is “any substance or a mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pests.” So that’s kinda where HogStop kinda comes into our realm of regulatory enforcement. The exemptions from FIFRA regulations - so FIFRA is the acronym for the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act – that is the federal act that basically regulates all pesticides throughout the country and within FIFRA there’s a Section 25B which is specific to minimum risk pesticides. Now there’s six requirements for a pesticide to be considered minimum risk, it’s, actually the last five bullets but two are covered under the second bullet. Both active and inert ingredients need to be on the list of approved ingredients by EPA. The ingredients must be listed on the label – no claims to control pests that pose a threat to human health or rodents carrying specific diseases, ah, the name of the company and contact information has to be on the label and the label cannot include any false or misleading statements. I’ll go through these and kind of let you guys know where the check boxes are and stuff like that. OK, just for you folk’s information the EPA did exempt – back in 1996 – minimum risk pesticides to reduce the cost and regulatory burdens for businesses and the public for pesticides that pose and this is in quotes “little to no risk \[unclear\] EPAs resources on pesticides that pose greater risks to humans and the environment.” So that’s where the minimum risk idea comes from so this is the first requirement for that 17 minimum risk listing and classification – you need to have your active ingredient product – the active ingredient on the label itself and if you folks can see – it might be a little small but it’s down towards the bottom – the active ingredient is cotton seed oil – the list I have here on the bottom left – that’s the specific list that EPA provides through all of its regulatory enforcement agencies that, gives us an idea of these are all the products that are exempted and I have their highlighted cotton seed oil. So the next requirement is that the inert products must be on the approved list – so the 1 % is the cotton seed oil – 99% of the other product is sodium chloride - so salt – corn, cotton seed meal and molasses. So the EPA does define inert ingredients so basically I highlighted that right there on the bottom left – commonly consumed food – so salt, corn, and molasses. We, generally, we, a lot of us eat salt, corn and molasses. The one thing that I did highlight also is cotton seed meal, ah, that is provided in an exemption, you know, on the exemption list from EPA over on the right side and all of these lists are easily available online and I provided that list and I have a list of references later on in the presentation so, cotton seed meal is an approved inert ingredient within “HogStop” and on EPA’s side. So the next thing is that all ingredients must be listed on the label and appropriately summed to 100%. So we’ve gotten the cotton seed oil – the 1% - then the inert ingredients are 99% - so we’ve got a solid 100% - pretty easy math there – and we also have no claims to control pests that pose a threat to human health, so this is an example of like, let’s say, if the label said “controls hogs which reduce mosquitos and malaria,” right? So you have a human health claim and that would nullify the 25B and the minimum risk pesticide classification. But the label that we were provided, the manufacturer does not have that and every search that I’ve tried to find for any products related to “HogStop” do not have that threat to human health claim on them. Next one pretty simple, pretty easy – name of the company and contact information – they have it right there – it is packed by Corona Feed additives so, you know, that’s nice and easy. The one that you folks are probably interested in is that label – the label cannot include false or misleading statements. Now, the false and misleading statements we have here – it’s over on the right side – those are the statements and the claims by “HogStop.” Contraceptive bait for feral hogs – it has been proven that cotton seed oil and the chemical within cotton seed oil – known as gossypol – is and has been proven to be a reducer of sperm motility, and allowing the sperm to travel. Another claim would be reduces the fertility of males – no problem there. Maintains fertility interruption for at least 30 days. We have seen information not specifically provided to the Department but we’ve uncovered that, yes, you know, the – with the data that the manufacturers have provided that that’s and accurate statement – it does not kill hogs or non-target animals – that is also true – so the 1% cotton seed oil and gossypol does not have enough to basically do what’s called gossypol toxin – toxmosis – or something similar to that. I’m not a Toxicologist – I’m pesticides/regulatory management so… You know, that does check out based on the active ingredient requirement and the one that you folks are most interested in – it does not render meat unable to be eaten by people, so, you know, that’s where we’re a little, you know, we’ve been doing some research and gathering information, so, like I mentioned earlier why cotton seed oil – it’s gossypol – it’s a natural chemical made by the cotton plant – the seeds and the oil actually have that specific chemical but what that chemical is, is – the reaction that the chemical produces can be likened to eating asparagus or other sulfur containing foods, you know, it’s a naturally occurring chemical within asparagus that causes the effect that we’re all familiar with when you eat asparagus, um, with asparagus that effect – that smell – goes away after you stop eating it and that’s the same with gossypol – it’s removed, it accumulates in the liver and kidneys but it does – it gets released in fecal matter as well urine over time through the \[unclear\] of the feral pigs, you know, just for your folks information – cattle and beef are feed the same ingredients. Cattle are actually less susceptible to gossypol poisoning because they 18 have multiple stomachs. That’s the biggest issue and what causes gossypol poisoning is that the gossypol is taken up – it doesn’t have time to be broken down, basically, by the feral pigs, so, you know, HDOA has determined that there are no false or misleading statements on “HogStop’s” label. So, you know, you folks are probably interested in what kind of rules and regulations we have for stop sales – so there’s a couple of citations here – HRS 149A – so 149A basically covers all of our pesticides’ statutes – it allows us – stop sales for violations of Chapter 149 – any of our pesticide laws. Because this product is a minimum risk pesticide and it’s because it’s abiding by all the requirements set within the exemption – the 25B difference exemption – the pesticide laws – all of our distribution laws – pesticide related – they have to be pesticide related violations – because they’re following the laws that we have written, you know, we can’t do a stop sale on our end. We also have written within our rules the ability to evaluate those pesticides – all pesticides – and suspend licenses. So evaluations can lead no changes, restricted use classifications, you know, you have to be a certified applicator to use a product, you have to have an annual use permit – we can cancel the product or suspend the license so the problem here is it’s kinda – the product needs to be registered and licensed by US EPA and HDOA and the product isn’t required to be registered and licensed because it falls under that minimum risk classification and there’s the citation for the exemptions of the minimum risk products – so, you know, our hands are unfortunately tied based on the stop sales and, revoking licenses for “HogStop” so that’s the quick and dirty of the regulatory scheme for the pesticides branch. I’ve provided my contact information right up there (Greg.Y.Takeshima@hawaii.gov – phone: 808-973-9404) I do have an education specialist on Oahu, as well as in Hilo, the supervisor for the Education Section is Adam Yamamoto. (Adam.T.Yamamoto@hawaii.gov – phone 808-973-9409) I have new staff coming in – he’s actually not that new – some of you folks probably know him – Grant Kau – he’s gonna be moving into the Pesticides Branch, Education Section. BL: Thank you, Greg… AA: Thanks, Greg… LT: Mahalo… AA: While since your screen stay up we get Charles Kaleo with his hand up so just state your name and then you can ask him a question. CK: Aloha, my name is Charles Kaleo – my question is – you said that it’s OK for the cattle and the pigs to eat it, right? GT: Yeah. CK: OK. What about the sheep, the goats and the deer, which we consume as food? GT: Yeah, OK, so, according to that specific label it is recommended, so, this gets into another weird kind of quasi-enforceable, unenforceable thing. The label – when “HogStop” does have that recommendation of putting it in a container with a 17-pound lid, I believe is the specifics to it, the only problem with that is 25 being a minimum risk products are exempted from our rules so we cannot enforce if somebody, let’s say somebody just throws it out on the ground – with our 19 rules the way they’re written right now – we can’t enforce that because it’s covered under and exemption. CK: So you guys going go check every place they putting out “HogStop” you guys going go check it out and see how they putting the product out cause, I tell you right now – they not going be putting ‘em in those feeders. They going do the least with it – just going dump them on the ground, I guarantee that. GT: Yeah. CK: So, \[unclear\], you know? GT: Yeah, yeah, and, you know, we totally understand that – like I said – we’re unable to enforce the specifics to this product because it’s covered under that minimum \[unclear\]. ?: We got to file one lawsuit. CK: And then, like you said into the feeder, OK, the pig going go over there and whack ‘em going fall on the ground. Our native birds going go over there and eat ‘em. Hundred percent guaranteed. Our birds over here is not like the birds on the mainland – they eat anything – our birds over here eat raw meat – hamburger – you grind ‘em up thrown ‘em on the ground they eat ‘em – so they no can say that the oh the birds not gonna get affected. I no believe that. You guys give me 100% guarantee that this “HogStop” not gonna affect anything? GT: Yeah, no that’s not for me to provide – I don’t have the information to be able to 100% say that nothing and non-targets would be affected. CK: Thank you \[unclear\], I just wanted for speak out to you, I know it’s not – you’re not the one controlling but Mahalo my braddah, aloha. GT: Yeah. AA: Ah, Greg, you can take your screen sharing off? GT: Yeah, sure. AA: And Tara you get your hand up? TR: So, Greg you were saying – like how you was mentioning the poison to the cattle – like you mentioned – that’s the word – poison me – even though no matter how minimum risk – that’s still poisoning. It accumulates – it gets discreted in, you know, the fecal matter and urine and everything, and where does that all go? So, again, I know you’re here and you say your hands are tied but with any kind of rules – look for how you guys can get started on amending the rules because there’s so many – there’s so much hewa going on with all these colonized rules that it’s just really getting ridiculous that the hewa cannot even stop because according to rules and no matter even if there are rules – it’s pick and choose and they find loopholes and all that kind stuff so… If you guys can really keep in touch and reach out to Howie Lucas and the people from “HogStop” either Lauren, Brad, the biologist’s wife, Dan or Daniel – it’s only like them guys for – 20 they’re willing, you know, to do that – I spoke to them today – so if you know you can just hear them out and like, you know, all the hunters – the gatherers, you know, going on again when that meeting goes out so that you can really speak directly to the source and then just really get them to understand that the best way to do this then is to just get it out of Hawaii, basically. AA: Thank you, \[unclear\] TR: The thing that she was saying that sole distributor, yeah, yeah, sorry, the sole distributor – her main thing is people have been – either they feeding it because they no like kill the animals, which is I just heard now that’s illegal to feed feral animals and/or they’re in a place where supposedly cannot hunt and I no hunt so I don’t know where she’s talking about – she never gives specifics – so all that kind of stuff if you can reach out – have the clear conversation with all of them, you know, all together and, again, it cannot be that you cannot do nothing, you know, cannot be that you cannot do nothing – can always find a way… GT: Yeah, sure. You know, so, just to get to some of your points that we have been in discussion with, you know, the distributor, we’ve been in discussion with some of their other pesticide dealers, we’ve been in discussion also with the chair of the Board of Agriculture and she is – she’s pretty up to date on some of this information and this information does get forwarded on to some of the legislators and I’m sure you folks have voiced your opinions to them, you know, it comes to a similar – what I can kind of think about this is that there was actually a product that was banned by the Legislature not too – soon to be banned – it actually was restricted and will be banned in 2023 – the product is called Chlorphyrifos – that active ingredient was banned based on studies and finding so we are working towards listening to and that’s why we’re here to listen to you folks and try to pick and get the best ideas moving forward. AA: Dawnelle, you get your hand up? (No last name stated) D: Yeah, I had a question. AA: Hold on, hold on… Yeah, she’s speaking, sorry… So much hands on there, sorry, go ahead… D: First, Greg, I really want to thank you for being here. I understand that you stated that the HDOA – part of the reason why you see that there’s no problem with “HogStop” is because there are no false or misleading statement on the “HogStop” label. I have a question, but you might have to actually have to put up your PowerPoint – on that slide that has the label of the “HogStop”… GT: Let me pull it up for you, hold on… D: Thank you, Greg, thank you… GT: Yeah, let me make it in presentation mode so that it’s a little bit bigger for everybody, hopefully… D: Thank you… 21 GT: Yeah. And just FYI I’m a Hilo boy born and raised… Just had to move to Oahu for job… D: Uh-huh…Yeah, perfect. \[Discussion in audience\] ?: Eh, Graham, what they went approve – these guys gonna approve ‘em already? ?: No it’s not breaking any laws so they no need get approve… ?: They don’t need approval… ?: It’s just if you follow the rules you can sell… ?: Yeah, but, if it’s illegal to eat… ?: Well… CC: I’m sorry, I know there’s a conversation that’s added, that’s being recorded. Can the members please state their names? Who was speaking? ?: Oh, that was District 3. AA: It was just two members from the public. ?: \[unclear\] AA: It was Jaerick Medeiros and Gerard De Lima… GT: There you go Dawnelle… D: OK, perfect… Now if we actually Zoom in to the “HogStop” label there’s that section of caution and in that caution of the label it states that on the product – the “HogStop” product – may be harmful if swallowed. And I guess my concern is you guys acknowledge that the fact that on their no false or misleading statement so we know that, that’s not false – it should not be swallowed – I guess the concern I have to take back to your Department heads is how can they state because maybe other deciding factor was you guys stated this product does not render meat unsafe to consume but yet the label says caution – do not swallow – and how would I know how quickly from the catch – from the time that I capture the animal – how will I know the time frame as far as when I catch and when they actually consume that product and I think that’s why I have the concern that there’s not enough studies that can actually give me an answer on that so if a label does say caution – may be harmful if swallowed – and it actually goes on to further first aid – I think we have to go back to possibly your Department heads to say, hey, wait a minute, although it does meet these other parameters – one of our main things that we do state is that there is no false or misleading statements on this label so we know that it shouldn’t be swallowed - that’s not false or misleading – but also, the study of – from 22 capturing the animals to actual consumption – what if I catch it within a minute – I didn’t know they ate it somewhere and I get sick so I guess that’s where I’m concerned about having the Department do more of a study before allowing it to be released and, again, as a concerned citizen, for the fact that the label itself does have that caution. Thank you, thanks, Greg… GT: Yeah, definitely I’ll take that back to the chair and also bring it up to the manufacturers. Ah, so, you know, if we can get some kind of collaboration with some of you folks – some of the hunters – and, you know, this product is being used – there’s no doubt about it – if we can get samples from you folks we do have a lab that should be able and I’m not 100% sure we have cotton seed oil as analyte in our lab but we can check and we can do samples because we do samples for, you know, Drift and all those other pesticide products. So, yeah, we do have the capability to potentially follow-up with, you know, studies if, you know, either the Department itself or UH could take that on or possibly some other group. AA: Thanks, Dawnelle. LT: Thank you, Mahalo… AA: Um, Ralston, you get your hand up? (No last name given). R: \[Unclear\] kakou, so notice what your gonna notice depends upon notice, depends upon notice \[unclear\]. This is on the record for the record and so I just want file \[unclear\] kanaka maoli \[unclear\] 46 for Puna side, Haawina one, Kahuku and the term kanaka maoli is used to differentiate and this thing \[unclear\] native subject. Reciting in the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands a me na kanaka maoli – I just want to mention that, there’s a lot of talk about the significance of the puaa and I want to make it aware about this whole entire \[unclear\] rules and regulations, yeah, so, the state – you now are committing genocide because of the significance to the kuleana, our people, our aina, so this is just a brief law that I want to mention for the records – \[unclear\] policies rules are not allowed – the statute is not in \[unclear\] – a code is not a law. Re self vs. Ray – second, 261 in point of fact in law and so what I’m stating here is that basically the State is trying to claim that they don’t have any jurisdiction over this “HogStop” but who therefore takes the responsibility of allowing this to come upon our shores, and to affect our aina and our puaa? Who, by the way, are the longest distance ungulates so the ungulates – they travel a lot, yeah? And you’re talking about \[unclear\] the effects of our watershed – the effects of our food supply as kanaka maoli. \[Unclear\] Mahalo for your guys’ time. ?: Aloha, sistah. Love you, whew… LT: Mahalo… ?: I can speak? ?: Oh, wait, I just want to add something really quickly. So the, you know, at the end of the day the state and all these government agencies – they have a kuleana to us to the people who are originally \[unclear\] kanaka maoli, yeah, so genocide is a million-dollar charger per person, per \[unclear\] so genocide is a really big term to use \[unclear\]. 23 ?: I can say something? AA: Go ahead… RK: This is Roy Kainoa, president with the Pig Hunters Association of Oahu – Greg, I get one question – you know when you guys was talking about – well, we all was talking about the feed need to be in a trap, OK, if you back and you watch the video – this lady not using the trap she just pouring ‘em on the ground. ?: There you go… There you go that’s what I says… ?: So that’s illegal… ?: \[Unclear\] ?: Yes… RK: And now when I go to the stream to our \[unclear\]… ?: Yes… RK: The other thing too, these guys gotta in service the people – no just use ‘em. The bottom line to me is a’ole in Hawaii this \[unclear\] but that’s all I’m to say. Thank you. AA: Thank you… ?: Yes… AA: Go ahead Jaerick… GMG: Jaerick Medeiros-Garcia – you know, you guys are absolutely right – Tita thank you for reciting the genocide stuff. It’s absolutely right. The county, like I’ve been saying, the county – the GMAC Commission – they should’ve hold themselves under the state – the fact that what you just recited, yeah, Tita, myself, Ku Palikapu – keep on reminding, you know, that the GMAC Commission how they are above everybody else when it comes down to game management – they shouldn’t sell themselves short of allowing the state to act as if they have control of our counties, a’ole, absolutely right – Mahalo for sharing that with everybody, um, and at this point, you know, like I’m hauloa the Commissioners at the same time because you know what it is their – they’re taking the time out of their day to be here, you know, they, ah, but at the same time please no sell your guys self short and bow down to the state when guys have more power than them – remember now – the county was created back in the 1800s and the state was created in 1959, you know, do not bow down to the state. Let them bow down to us and if we say a’ole in our county – a’ole in our county. Thank you. ?: Yes, sir… AA: Ah, Brian Ogawa? 24 BO: Ah, he said that \[technical difficulties\] they didn’t… GT: I do understand that it is in the state, you know, we don’t have any specific data to who… BO: But it is being \[technical difficulties\] … GT: I do \[technical difficulties\] BO: For how long has it been using? GT: We don’t know that information. BO: OK. Thank you. AA: Ah, Zap McDowell? ZM: Eh, how’s it going, um, it all sounds like population control to me. ?: Yeah, thank you brah. ZM: Just want to say it. Everybody’s thinking it but nobody’s saying it and it’s all the same thing. You know, you know who Hitler is, right? ?: Yes… ZM: Same thing… ?: Thanks, braddah… ZM: Mahalo… AA: Thanks, ah? BL: Brian – District 4. Hey, Greg, I really appreciate you with the presentation – that was a wonderful presentation and, I’m gonna dip into 20 years of \[unclear\] brainwashing and, we’ve got a big statement before we do anything in a nuclear power plant do we know so or do we think so? And what I hear a lot with the “HogStop” is we think so, there’s no studies, I mean, how much are these pigs eating, I mean, when you get a big boar in here and he pigs up and, for two, three weeks at a time and he’s overdosing on this stuff, is there any studies on that, like he said and I looked up, I just got done Goggling cotton seed oil if it’s toxic and, cotton seed oil is considered and equivocal carcinogenic by the registry of the tops - its affects the chemical substances per tier may be co-carcinogenic – cotton seed oil is extracted from the seeds of cotton plants and then it goes on to say – cotton seed oil is normally refined which is virtually free of the gossypol – the active ingredient in “HogStop” and safe for consumption once it’s removed according to Google – refined cotton seed oil is OK but the stuff with the toxic stuff that “HogStop”, is considered toxic so, I Googled it and it came up with a bunch of stuff, heavy metals, pesticides, and all sorts of other things listed with cotton seed oil – so like I said once 25 before I’m hearing a lot of I think so and, we’re talking with people’s health, I don’t buy meat at the grocery store – my freezer is full of wild meat – that’s all I eat. And, I feed people all the time so, why I want to know so, I don’t want to think so, I want to know so, I want to know that the stuff is safe, I want to know that I eat it there’s not gonna be any problem, there’s not gonna be a problem to the Keiki that I give to and stuff like that, so, you know, that’s my two cents worth and like I said with the nuclear background and everything there’s a big think, you know, if you think so you better not do it because you’re gonna close the plant down and you’re gonna lose your job – you better make sure that you know so before you do something… ?: Yes… BL: ….and like I said there’s no – these people are just dumping the stuff and we have no idea on who’s getting what and where is it ending up and what’s eating it and what’s moving on so… Like I said – we’ve got a letter to the county council to ban it on our Island. I assume, you know, everybody on the other islands I think you need to call your county council and immediately say we need to put a stop to “HogStop” ‘cause there’s not enough evidence to keep this stuff going. So that’s my two cents worth, thank you everybody for being here… LT: Mahalo… NP: I have a question, um, I have a question… AA: Go ahead Nani… NP: Thank you, thank you, I have a question for the Department of Ag – Hawaii – Department of Ag – so there was a new bill that just passed through the Legislature and became law and it says game mammals provide a sustainable food resource, so I want to ask – will the USDA approve of domestic animals for meat to have excessive cotton seed oil in the meat? I mean, they should look at it in the same way – if this is food for the people and it shouldn’t have cotton seed accumulation in the meat – same as domestic meat. Thank you. ?: Thank you, Auntie… AA: OK. Abraham – District 5. Greg, thanks for doing the presentation. But like, Danelle said, I read that website a couple times that thing is just so gray, you know, how you can say that you can use it wherever but yet it transfers from animal to animal or you know it just… ?: Harmfully… AA: ….yeah, harmfully, you know, all that. Harmful to swallow, you know. I don’t see how the EPA could even approve it throughout the United States not just Hawaii, right? ?: The story of my life… AA: I don’t like to sound like one broken record, that’s why I let everybody else speak first because they take a lot of the points already, the one major thing I like touch with you on is you guys need to get out and find out where the “HogStop” is being used. You just requested that if you guys want do testing that we can come to you guys and give you guys all the samples but if I 26 don’t know where you guys putting, well, where the public is spreading on private property because these pigs come in from the forest, come in from the rubbish dump, whatever, you know, we don’t know where they going back and, going to sleep and bedding so how can we know where to get these samples, you know, we as the State of Hawaii need to know where this thing is being used and we also need – you didn’t provide a contact information for where to take these samples so if you can provide that in the Chat that would be great. The other thing is, you know, Hawaii is such a place where endangered species, right, that’s such a hot topic in Hawaii and, we get the birds, we get plants, bugs – all these different things… ?: \[Unclear\] connected… AA: ….people… ?: Endangered… AA: Endangered, right? But, yet, EPA and then HDOA is letting this thing come in, you know, you should, they should have done more research and stuff against that – the environmentalists which is the biggest fighters against our ungulates which is our greatest resource: the pigs, the sheep, the cows, all the ungulates that they calling, which is invasive – they’re not invasive – they’re our resource, so they need to go back and reinvestigate this whole thing – as far as the public – that’s why it’s down this agenda – we actually going push the county council and also if anyone – cause you guys got to remember we’re only one advisory committee, right? Even though Gerrit said, we got a lot of power – we get some – but we just one advisory committee and we can advise state, federal and county officials, you know, DLNR, Hawaiian Homelands – we can just write letters of advisement, ah, so that’s what we doing and we push for a bunch of different things and we’ll get to the other topics later on of what we’ve been pushing and what we’ve kinda been doing, so at this time we’re going, ah, like I said, thanks again, Greg, great to communicate with you for the short time that we did, thanks for the presentation again, thanks to the public for all your guys top questions for him and for us and we go move on to Old Business. LT: Mahalo… AA: The reason why I left… TR: \[Unclear\] AA: What is that Tara? TR: E kala mai – can I say one really quick thing before Greg jumps off? AA: OK. Make it real quick ‘cause we got to move – real quick. TR: OK. So Greg, if we can like \[unclear\] if you can look up HB 2187, I forgot about that too, yeah, ‘cause that just went pass – so now that it is past.. AA: 1872 – HB 1872 which is Act 315, but, yeah, we going get to that. 27 TR: OK. OK. OK. So just that one and then really get in touch with that follow-up meeting with that one sole distributor ‘cause apparently the “HogStop” has one contract with her and then so it’s only \[unclear\] for really get it out of the Island. GT: OK. Will do. TR: Yeah, so Mahalo. 5. OLD BUSINESS a. Update on the Volcano Transfer Station boulders blocking the State Forest Reserve access and parking. AA: Old Business: update on the Volcano Transfer Stations boulders blocking the State Forest Reserve’s access, so, just quick history, with GMAC, you know, we fight for hunters and fishermen, like I said, we fighting for a lot of access, one up in Hilo Forest Reserve – District 2, which Leomana is kinda taking the lead on that. I’m District 5 which is Volcano so that’s why this one is on the agenda – but back in the day when the Volcano Transfer Station before was updated – there wasn’t no boulders blocking the access and you could drive pretty much a mile into the forest reserve. After they upgraded the facility, they claimed vandals and just malicious things happening up there so they put boulders which we as GMAC are trying to get the county to remove those boulders. The state says that if there is enough hunter activity in the area that the state would cut a new road alongside the county property to access the forest reserve behind the transfer station and that’s a pretty good area to hunt – that’s like one of the ice boxes, you know, but because of that boulders we cannot access behind there safely, that’s a dog and gun area and as of right now you would have to drop your dogs right off the highway and to us that’s a safety issue… BL: Yeah… AA: ….I think Nani Pogline has some kind of update too also on that. NP: Na Ala Hele Council is taking up this issue also and they’ve formed a working group to deal with it and the chairperson Terrance Noda – I talked to Ian Cole the East Hawaii Wildlife Biologist for DOFAW and, yeah, he advised that as many hunters as possible, just driving by, whatever to stop and sign in so it can show interest in usage and access – that would be the first step and then, GMAC and also Na Ala Hele can write letters of recommendation and I would recommend GMAC write a letter of recommendation to the state to make an alternative access to that forest access and parking lot also and Terrance Noda – the Na Ala Hele – he felt like that was the best chance is to work with the state to create an alternative access that doesn’t cause the transfer station to have vandalism and, so the chances are good it looks like so, um, yeah, if GMAC could write an advisory letter to DOFAW about that – that would be awesome. Thank you. Action: Motion was made by L. Turalde, District 3, to draft a letter to DOFAW for an accessible parking area at the Volcano Transfer Station. Seconded by G. Donev. Motion passed by vote, unanimously. 28 AA: Barbara, could you take a vote. SW: You need discussion first. AA: OK. Discussion first. Um, open discussion to commissioners. Any discussion? GD: I just want to say Nani, thank you for working with your committee to also look into this issue. It was something that we were discussing quite a bit, so thank you. CC: If there’s no other discussion you could call the vote. AA: OK. I’ll call a vote. Barbara would you mind taking a vote? BK: Sure. District – 2, Kean? KU: Yes, I approve. BK: District – 3, Leomana? LT: Eo… BK: District – 4, Brian? BL: Yes… BK: District – 5, Abraham? AA: Yes. BK: District – 6, Austin? AG: Yes… BK: District – 8, Cortney? CO: Yes. BK: District – 9, George? GD: Yes. BK: Ayes 7 votes, any nays? None. Thank you. Motion passes… AA: Thank you, Barbara. We’re going to move on to New Business: 6. NEW BUSINESS 29 a. GMAC approval letter advising Mayor Roth and the County Council of HogStop, a contraceptive bait used to control feral hogs on pastures, rangeland, forests, and non- crop areas. AA: GMAC’s approved letter for advising Mayor Roth and the County Council of “HogStop” and contraceptive bait used to control feral hogs on pastures, rangeland, forest, and non-crop area. AA: You want to make a motion? BL: I think George has a letter he wants to read doesn’t he? AA: No, not yet George, not yet George… Action: Motion made by B. Ley that we approve the letter to Mayor Roth and Council to stop “HogStop.” Seconded by L. Turalde. Motion carried by voice vote, unanimously. AA: Any discussion from Commissioners? CO: This is Cortney – District 8. Is the appropriate time to ask about a quick, maybe it might be a typo in the final paragraph where it says “internal” should the word be “integral” instead of “internal.” GD: Yes. You’re right, thank you Cortney. CO: Yes, thank you. GD: All right, I will send an updated draft with that… SW: I have a question. Was this letter provided along with the minutes? AA: For the board… SW: For the board packet? BK: This is Barbara. I received the letter in the email before the meeting so I just emailed it out when I looked at my email. So it was not included along with the draft minutes. The email went out as a reminder it was not included. GD: George Donev – District 9. Could we read the draft of the letter into the record – that’s what Chair Abraham and I were talking about. SW: That would be fine. AA: Thank you. Any other Commissioners have discussion on this topic? OK. Barbara can you take another roll call vote please. BK: Sure… 30 Honorable in sold and Delaware, of LLC Feeds PRO-HI by manufactured Texas, in subsidiary and Mexico New of LLC Additives, Feed Corona by marketed and owned is which HogStop, name trade the under marketed boars, male of fertility the control to used feed contraceptive poisonous a of use the terminate to action for consideration your request hereby we end, this To County. the in wildlife and life aquatic of sustainability term-long and -self the of in Hawai‘i of resources cultural and natural the protect dan conserve that recommendations provide to is goals Commission’s the of One wildlife. and life aquatic of conservation and taking the affect that matters any and rights; gathering cultural and of protection the fishing; and hunting of preservation the to related matters on County the advise may “Commission”) (the Commission Management Game County Hawai‘i the Charter, County the of 9.3-6 Section to Pursuant Roth, Mayor Dear 96720 Hawai‘i Hilo, 2603 Ste Street Aupuni 25 Roth D. Mitch Mayor SW: First you would need to read the letter into the record first and then you can call for your roll call vote. BK: OK. AA: Well, we just, we just – Abraham – District 5. We just approving the letter, ah, a motion to make the letter and then the letter’s already made so isn’t that like another vote that we have to make? SW: Have you already approved the drafting of the letter previous? AA: No. SW: So, then you can – how do I say this – I guess there needs to be clarification on what your motion is because right now it sounds like – correct me if I’m wrong – but it sounds like the motion was approving the letter but not approving drafting of the letter. So that’s why I was saying the letter needs to be read because the public hasn’t had notice of the content of the letter. BL: Let George read the letter. AA: OK, so, George just reads the letter and then we can take a vote on the letter? SW: Yeah. AA: OK. OK, George, can you read the letter? GD: Great. Donev – District 9. The letter is as follows, dated July 19, 2022. 31 Hawai’i land. county or private on is therefore, feed, HogStop of use possible only The lands. Hunting Public State and Areas Management Game on product the of use the permit or support not od Wildlife and Forestry of Division the as well as Natural and Land of Department the from biologists wildlife feed, HogStop of mechanisms biological unknown and claims unverified the to Due residents. County’s the of consequences changing life and adverse have to feed HogStop for ability the surrounding concern the dismiss to impossible is it product, HogStop the of safety the independently experimentation conclusive with research no and claims, the of review or study scientific endentindep no With health. reproductive and to consequences dire with itself, presents magnification biological if HogStop of effects adverse by impacted most be will families their and hunters The health. human to threat biggest the poses level, each at concentrations higher increasingly in themselves present and chain food the up move substances toxic which through process the magnification, Biological risks. health severe has and unknown is boar, as such game, wild on subsist homw of families their and hunters the specifically, more and humans to danger the importantly, most and Further ways. unpredictable in chain food and Island’s the impact to the has feed HogStop to exposure—general in mammals and boar, ’sCounty our of systems vital other and reproductive the on poison or “bait” the how of assessment and understanding proper Without boar. as systems biological similar with those especially organisms, on contraceptive the of effects known the question into calls safety feed’s the verify independently to evidence of lack complete and statements These crops.” with contact in come could spillage where rows, crop the within placed be not should areas crop around placed “Feeders say, to further goes LLC Feed Corona types.” animal other all out keep to work that feeders specific-hog we effects, animal target-non avoid fertility…to in a by affected be may goats and sheep, deer, as such animals ruminant and cgastri-“Mono that stating— own LLC’s Feed Corona by even unknown, are effects contraceptive the of scope and range The taxa. throughout species and endangered as well as animals, farm & ungulates, other rds,bi as well as ecosystem, the in present mammals all include can Impacted alone. fact this from comes concern greater the hormones,” affect to work actively it does nor disruptors, or hormones use not “does poison the states HogStop hileW populations. boar or control to impact environmental low kill,-“non a as marketed is HogStop consumption. between days thirty least at lasting effects baseline with boar, of population a to exposure first after days five within hold take may effects contraceptive these that claims HogStop fertility. decreasing by populations boar decimate to owners land for product—eradication—control population term-long a as used be to intended is HogStop animals. other by consumed being feed igatemit help to feeders special of use recommends HogStop effect. take to effects contraceptive for continuously boar the to fed and distributors partner their through be must feed HogStop boar. male of the reduce to tool management a as edmarket feed contraceptive a is HogStop rights. distributor holds which LLC, HOGSTOP PACIFIC as Affairs Consumer & Commerce of Department the with year this of May in registered distributor a by 32 The mind. in context historic and considerations these with balanced be must eradication or control population of methods modern within animals these of status and management, interactions, The Island. the of ecology current the of part internal na are and State, and County the within significance cultural apparent and distinctive have living, subsistence sustainable of sources longtime been have Boar resource. living a being of purpose the for 2016), al., et (Linderholm CE 1200 as back far as rerswayfa Polynesian by brought were boar of majority the that found study A families. and hunters of health the and fertility impact can case worst the in which consequences, environmental unknown with poisons contraceptive over management and/or co population for methods sustainable and effective, cost humane, other, of use the consider parties: stakeholder other as well as Wildlife, and Forestry of Division the and Resources Natural and Land of Department County, the owners, property private to Commission the of recommendation current the Furthermore, Island. Hawai‘i of environment and ecosystems existing the on have could poison contraceptive a such effects the of study specific as lwel as broadly, health human and animal to effects its assess to studies impact ecosystem and health, environmental, of submission pending jurisdiction County within use for product HogStop the on ban temporary immediate an law) of limits the (within req therefore, Commission, The poison. a such to exposed animals consume who humans to health even and damage environmental to lead can which for contraceptive a as use of scope limited intended its past well humans and mammals, animals, for conditions adverse creates HogStop believes strongly Commission Such studies and assessments should consider Game Management Area plans, as well specific geographic and district controls within the County, considering the wild game populations—especially for boars—as well as unintended knock-on effects for other mammals, endangered species, and current ecosystem functions. Respectfully submitted, George Donev Commissioner – District 9 And Abraham Antonio, Chair Hawaii County Game Management Commission AA: Thanks, George. OK. So at this time we’re voting for the letter now Corp Counsel? SW: Yes. AA: OK. BK: OK. The roll call, I mean, \[unclear\] commissioners. District – 2, Kean? KU: Yes. 33 BK: District – 3, Leomana? LT: Yes. BK: District – 4, Brian? BL: Yes. BK: District – 5, Abraham? AA: Yes. BK: District – 6, Austin? AG: Yes. BK: District – 8, Cortney? CO: Yes. BK: District – 9, George? GD: Yes. BK: OK. We have unanimous in favor of the letter. Thank you. AA: Hey, George, thanks for that great letter, George. GD: Thank you. ?: Yeah, mahalo, braddah. It’s a blessa. AA: OK, so we going move section B to next month’s meeting, announcements… 7. ANNOUNCEMENTS: a. GMAC introduced bills in the 2022 Hawai’i State Legislature Session, HB 1872 and SB3298 passed over into law. AA: \[Unclear\] you guys have been following GMAC, our County GMAC – this is part of the powers that, one of the powers that Gerrit was talking about. Me and – we got legislation introduced this year – we had a total of five – we got two that passed legislation with testimonies with some from the public, ah, me personally, Brian Ley, and Leomana we went up two different times to set testimony and talk to the legislators, one of the bills that got passed was SB 3298 and that is Shooting Range Working Group so a quick history on that was GMAC was making a shooting range facility out in Puuanahulu – it got shot down by the hotel industry – they tried to move it to 34 other places – that didn’t go along so it basically stalled – DLNR did not want to take it on anymore because of the environmental impacts, they claim. We shot for a shooting – this is the beginning that our predecessors didn’t take this avenue which we went through the legislature so SB 3298 just got passed into law – signature by the Governor so that’s even better to create a working group for a shooting range facility. The other one is our main – our baby – our main one which got introduced by Rep. Mark Nakashima HB 1872 – this one we fought really hard against some environmentalists – it didn’t die – it made it all the way through – made it to the Governor’s desk – this one actually did not get a signature but it doesn’t matter the 12 days passed and it didn’t make his veto list and didn’t get his signature which doesn’t matter but it passed automatically without his signature so that’s what we been doing – that one is to support our game animals as a sustainable resource. b. New District 6 – GMAC Commissioner: Austin Griffey AA: So just \[unclear\] our game animals actually have some kind of worth now so that’s kind of one of our tools in our toolbox now. Another announcement is I’d like to welcome, you guys hear me call, talk to him earlier in the tonight – which is our new District 6 Game Management Advisory Commissioner, which is Austin Griffey, we cannot see him for some reason (tech problem with screen) but it’s all right, just say “Hi Austin.” AG: Hello, I stay wearing camouflage that’s why… AA: I bet you’re using cryptic camouflage, yeah? AG: Oh, yeah. I’m not familiar, I’m sorry… Thank you. AA: Hopefully, by the next meeting we will have Robert Duerr join this commission - District – 1 Representative. He’s been also in the fishing and hunting community for a very long time. He has a lot of history and knowledge; I know some of you in the audience know him. So he’s a journalist too, so, you know he’s a big score for Hawai’i for our County GMAC. I also said, there’s still an opening for District – 7, which is South Kona, so if you guys know anybody in South Kona that is interested in applying – get in contact with one of the Commissioners or the County office and they’ll direct you to the right place to get your application filled out. 8. COMMITTEE REPORTS: a. Shooting Range – Development Bill, SB3298, Kean Umeda will share details KU: The working group – from what I read, it’s gonna be Department of Land and Natural Resources, ah, they gotta get a site and then working group’s gonna work on that. Also they got to look at the venues – which is the rifle, pistol, shotgun, air rifle, archery and any other shooting events or types of shooting so, I’m not sure if that will, you know, be like air \[unclear\], for example, they’re gonna do a range for that. Someone was asking me about that and I told them, you know, that that’s a possibility but we gotta get this working – getting this off the ground first and seems like they – none of this groups the working will not be compensated at any time. Also, they’re looking for some kind of revenue – meaning maybe there’s a fee – I’m guessing they’re gonna look for a fee – maybe to shoot on the range and maybe someone to take over like a gun club – to do volunteer work – to run the – we have all old \[unclear\] officers, ah, the 35 place that they’re gonna decide, you know, that’s gonna be a – I thought it was gonna be at Puuanahulu but I guess that kind of fell through – we’ll also look at the cultural aspect of where they build the range, which is very important, as we all know – and basically, you know, the design and the timeframe they gonna have to do it – my opinion it’s gonna be, you know, a monumental task to get this done in my lifetime and I hope if they can speed it up I can at least, you know, maybe shoot there sometime. So any questions? AA: OK. Go ahead. Kal you one question? (Did not state his name) ?: \[Unclear\] news, Brah? K: Not about that, I get other one about the firing range. \[Unclear\] by letting you guys have your firing range – but up here in Oahu, up here in my backyard at Pumohou (sp?) – when the DLNR went go take away the \[unclear\] over here up there by, ah, Helemano – next to the Navy facility over here – \[unclear\] that’s above us – I don’t know if you got the Navy facility over there – but, yeah, they telling us we no can hunt over there now in that area – but that’s when that area – where they had the illegal firing range – just shooting guns without no permit at the illegal firing range up here. So just to let you guys know that the DLNR, yeah, is full of shit. OK. I telling you guys right now – they make like they for us but they doing all illegal shit behind our back. \[Unclear\] ‘cause I was wondering how come I live over here in Whitmore \[?\] village and I can hear firing the shots way up there – up there in Pumohou (sp?) next to the naval base over here… AA: OK. Thanks, Kal. The thing with this one Kal is – it’s one working group so, you know, it goes with DLNR with we can have one guy from GMAC shooting facility, ah, shooting clubs they can get involved, also members from the public can also be involved so it’s not just DLNR itself. K: If they can make the illegal firing range, why they cannot make one firing for us? For you guys? That’s my f ---- point. Aloha. AA: Aloha, thank you… LT: Mahalo… AA: OK. Go ahead… ?: Hi, I’m Todd Yukutake, Hawaii Firearms Coalition – we support the gun range being built here – it’s gonna be very important because we just had the \[unclear\] for carrying hand guns in public – so we’re gonna start seeing carrying permits pretty soon, maybe in the next couple of months – and people are gonna need training and they need to arrange for that, ah, the existing public ranges here in Hawai’i County they don’t have classrooms – suitable places for training so I really got \[unclear\] this range bill and making sure it has facilities for classes – classrooms – private \[unclear\] and things like that. There’s gonna be – I estimate – several thousand people are gonna be getting carrying permits and they’re gonna need to practice and get training. ?: Yes… 36 AA: Thanks, Todd. ?: That’s the breaks, braddah. ?: Yeah, more food… ?: Police system… SM: Stanley Mendes – Hamakua. You know, all you guys on the neighbor islands – you guys gotta start thinking about going to you guys council people and organize one GMAC for each island, Kauai, Oahu – that’s what we do here. We cannot do everybody but we try but we cannot do for everybody so you guys on your guys’ side gotta volunteer and go see you guys council men and push for one GMAC like we have over here – because the State GMAC is just, in my opinion, they controlled by the DLNR and, you know, nothing, nothing gets done so if you guys want more power you guys have to go organize, go to your city council and organize, get GMAC done in you guys counties. AA: Hey, Stanley, last one is a GMAC going put on a hunter/fishing day expo on September 24 – we’re still finalizing the paperwork and stuff yet – we got Teresa Nakama going give us an update on that. Teresa? b. “Hunter, Fishing Day Expo,” September 24, 2022 – update by Teresa Nakama TN: We had two meetings, one in May and a committee meeting – one in June and we formalized our conclusion to put a form together. Did you pass out the forms to the Commission members? AA: Yeah, the ones that here with me, yeah? TN: Does any of the Commission members have any questions that they’d like to add or edit and did Corporation Counsel approve the forms that we put together? SW: I just received the forms \[unclear\] chairperson so I think it was last week and I’m still reviewing them. TN: OK. So until we get approval from Corporation Counsel with these forms – until we have our approval we can’t pass it out until Corporation Counsel gives its approval but it’s a cover letter asking for sponsorship. It’s a vendor form we’re asking the vendors from all over the Island to participate. After we get approval from Corporation Counsel – we have an ad going out and it will say E Kumu Mai Local Vendors – GMAC Hunting and Fishing - Game Management Advisory Commission, you know, this event is sponsored by GMAC on September 24 – we have a deadline st date of August 31 – there’s a smoke meat, smoke fish cooking contest – it’s being held in Hilo at the Butler Building – and contact is Abraham and we also need an approval from Corporation Counsel because Leomana has a non-profit organization and we’re partnering up with him in order to have more manpower to pull this off. We have an estimate of what it’s gonna cost us – we put a budget together and the budget has to be approved by Corporation Counsel and the members of GMAC and so far we’ve come up with total expenses of $5,261 dollars. SW: Any proposals regarding the non-profit and what… 37 TN: Attached to your file – to the forms that Abraham handed you at the back of the memorandum of understanding – that needs your approval also between… SW: Yes… So I just want to make sure that I have all of the documentation – if you want to talk to me offline you can. You can email me directly to make sure I have everything. TN: Yeah, you have everything. SW: So I’m not just reviewing only half. TN: No, you have everything. You have absolutely what I have and plus the memorandum of understanding. The rest – the only ones that has the memorandum of understanding is Leomana, Abraham and myself and you. OK? SW: I’ll see. TN: And so I went ahead and got estimates to be attached to the budget from various vendors that are gonna support us Canopy Tents, Hawaii Johns, and Party Rentals for tables and chairs and \[unclear\] which is part of the budget that I’ve put together for the event. Do any members of the Commission have any questions on what you want to edit or correct or add, please let me know and does anybody have any questions? BL: Hey, Teresa, Brian Ley – District 4. Hey, I talked to my County Council Ashley Kierkiewicz at the Revitalize Puna and they said that the County has a fund so she said if we needed a little extra money let her know and they would try to get that to us through the county budget – so if we’re a little short – if you could let me know and I’ll relay it to Ashley and we’ll see if we can get our budget up and running so we have everything we need. Thank you. TN: OK. So in your packet, Brian, is the budget also – so if you take a look at that and share it with her that would be great and, let us know what she can support us with. BL: All right, will do, appreciate it, thank you, Teresa. SW: I’m just gonna pause for a second on that ‘cause I believe the budget needs to be approved first and then it can come up to a vote and then it can be shared with the board members. TN: Yes, ah, we’re not asking for approval, we’re waiting for you to give us OK before we put this to a vote. SW: OK. AA: OK. Thanks, Teresa. TN: Thank you. 9. COMMISSIONER REPORT BY DISTRICT: 38 AA: Commissioner reports by the district. District 1 - vacant. Kean, do you have anything to report in your district? KU: Yes, (District 2) actually the 16 MM Range has been pretty filthy. I hope that the usage – the people that use it will, you know, basically what you bring please take it home and if you can pick up extra trash – but it’s pretty bad. I would hate to see that only area be shut down because of that rubbish, so just a shout-out to the people that are using it. AA: Thanks, Kean. District 3, Leomana? LT: Leomana – District 3. Nothing out of the ordinary for District 3. I just wanted to tell everyone who’s still in the room thank you guys for attending tonight. It’s probably the biggest crowd we have and I know this is our team – we all care about the land, we all care about the animals and I love everybody here – thank you guys for your support. AA: District – 4, Brian Ley. BL: Brian – District 4. Abraham and I just had a meeting before this meeting with Hawaiian Beaches discussing what the homeowner’s legislation that we’re thinking about passing for control of the rd wild pig problem in Puna and also on Saturday, 23 I’m also doing a big Eagles’ Lodge – another Wild Pulled Pork and Ribs and Baked Beans between 11:00a – 3:00p at the Eagles’ Lodge so if anyone wants to come by and have some onolicious wild pork, you know, feel free to stop by – that’s all I got to report, thank you. AA: Ah, as for my District (District 5), nothing really to update. You know, just keep on fighting against “HogStop.” We support the letters, if you guys can reach out to Maurice Messina, we no one District 1 so I covering that and, ah, reach out to him and get some support letters going out so we can get that Laupahoehoe Boat Ramp open again, um, so he can get his funding however it may be: taxes, federal, state, volunteers, whatever… Other than that, you know what – just going \[unclear\] Kean said – goes same thing for our forests and our beaches – you go and – well, actually, tree planting and all the right side of North Kulani is now open for hunting with dogs, even though it’s hunting year round but July through January it’s dogs – you can take your dogs January to July. Opposite is only a gun where you can go stalking, but, ah, just take out your guys trash – that’s what you take in, take out – like Kean said, you guys see anything more, eh, nobody shame pick ‘em up and take ‘em out. Pretty much all for me. District – 6, Austin Griffey? AG: As for District 6, I’ve been talking to the community, everybody around there about “HogStop,” asking for their opinions and everyone I’ve spoken to has been against it and they’re not for it in the area and, as of trash – the Old Mamalahoa Highway – the Hawaii Belt Road – they’re acquiring a lot more trash lately and, um, it’s gotta be something we can do about it because it’s becoming pretty bad. A lot of people like to walk on that back road and as for hunters – there’s a lot of carcasses – we’ve gotta stop dumping our carcasses on that road – it’s not good. That’s for sure. But everything else is looking pretty good – same o, same o. AA: Yeah, Austin, thanks for bringing that to light again – George brought it up before, yeah, hunters, gatherers, please stop dumping you guys carcasses on the side of the road. If you guys 39 going dump ‘em by the side of the road at least go like little bit more in where the public cannot see ‘em because you guys giving us one bad name. Had other pictures of, you know, the thing – one dumped in one river, you know, you guys hear but you guys not hear, but you guys promote clean water everything but if you throw the carcass inside you’re not promoting clean water even though maybe the prawns – you guys feeding the prawns, but, you know if that pig get hog feed inside or one sickness then, you know, you guys kinda messing it up, right? Um, District 8, Cortney Okumura. CO: (District 8) Aloha, everybody. Thanks, again to everyone who came. I don’t have too much to report although just reiterating, repeating. There’s a lot of opposition to “HogStop” in my district as well, everyone I’ve spoken to is in opposition to it, there was a lot of people that came out to do sign waving on Saturday and it’s just, yeah, many people in opposition here in Kona side so thanks to everyone who’s getting their voices heard and we’ll continue to hold up your voices for you. AA: Thank you, Cortney. Um, Brian Ogawa, you just had one question for Brian Ley? OK. We’ll move on to District 9, George Donev. GD: (District 9) Yes, I have several announcements from JoJo Tanimoto about community events that are happening over the next month or two. So first one – the South Kohala Police Department is rd holding a fishing derby on the 23 from 8:00a to noon for keiki ages 5-17 years old at Napua Kalima Beach below the Hawaiian Homes commercial area. Then the second one is Puukohola th NPS will have their annual workshops between August 8-20, 10:00a – 4:00p, and on the 17 the Royal Order of Kamehameha will join the workshop with song, dancing, and more food, and the locations for those are the small boat harbor and for the second event through the visitor’s center above Spencer Park and then you can follow the trails to the beach and it’s gonna be a fun historic and cultural education, so, fun events if anyone can attend or get the word out I think JoJo would appreciate that greatly. AA: Thanks, George. Brian Ogawa, you had one question for Brian Ley? BO: Oh, yeah, is he talking to the Hawaiian Beaches Association, then I go to the Neighborhood Watch and, ah, community there they get the pig problem and they like more information so if you can give me a call I can talk to him. I get my phone number in the Chat. If that’s OK. AA: OK. I think, maybe Barbara can you get his phone number and I think Barbara has your phone number so she going share ‘em to Brian. BO: OK. OK. Thank you. BL: Thank you. Brian… AA: I just like to say thank you to everybody who stuck around. You know, we try to stay on topic as best as can – even though we have presentations and stuff going on in the beginning we do work, again, you know, try out our next meetings so even though sometimes it seems like we’re not doing nothing but we are getting things done like, you know, we had this wonderful letter drafted up by George that, you know, none of you guys knew about, um, so you guys like be involved OK, come to the meetings. It’s the most people ever had in our Commission, in a very, 40 very long time so, like Braddah said earlier, you guys like do something then, eh, be something, come to this meetings, get other meetings, get DOFAW meetings, there’s a Na Ala Hele meeting that is with State DLNR which they provide access to hunter trails and hiking trails and bike trails and all these things. There’s also another thing that DLNR has is the Outer Special app. They do not track you but now you can log in with your phone, you no need check in at the check in stations anymore you can be all discreet so Charles Kaleo no can see where I stay hunting so it’s rd real discreet so please download that app and use up its 3 party kind so DLNR not tracking you. If get any game officers that come and check you out you can be like, no, I checked in, here’s my phone. As long as your phone, your battery is good then you know that’s still one good thing, um, you can get a hunting licenses, you can get hunting permits, you can get animal tags – pretty much anything. The thing tells you where your hunting trails are, hiking trails, biking trails, dog friendly, horse friendly – this Outer Special app is really educational and really useful to everybody, so other than that… ?: What is the app called? AA: Outer Special. ?: It shows that we using the mountain. AA: Yeah. Yeah, it shows that you using the mountain like Nani said for the Volcano Transfer Station that’s one way you can log in and you going show ‘em where activity in the area, right, so, if you guys no like stop in the morning to check-in, check-in right before you guys leave your guys house and you guys check-in already. So it’s like one less step that you can just be on the mountain faster, right? Other than that anybody wants to make a motion for us to go? 10. Adjournment: (8:34 pm) Action: L. Turalde moved to adjourn. Seconded by C. Okumura. Motion passed unanimously. Next Meeting: August 16, 2022 from 6:00pm to 8:00 pm. Respectfully submitted by, Barbara Kossow Secretary 41