Hawaiian monk seal tagged by researchers dies in fishing net ADVERTISING Hawaiian monk seal tagged by researchers dies in fishing net HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaiian monk seal that researchers have been studying since its birth has been found dead
Hawaiian monk seal tagged by researchers dies in fishing net
HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaiian monk seal that researchers have been studying since its birth has been found dead after getting stuck in a fishing net.
The seal was found last week on the coast of Oahu. Beachgoers tried to save the seal but it was too late.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials named the 9-year-old seal Kerby when they began studying it as a baby.
Officials say Kerby was one of about 1,400 Hawaiian monk seals in the world.
Since 1994, five Hawaiian monk seals have died in fishing nets.
“All evidence right now would point that the animal got entangled and drowned,” said Charles Littnan, lead scientist for the NOAA Hawaiian Monk Seal Program. “Anytime you lose an animal it’s a blow to the people that are out every day, the people that are out trying to protect them. Our program.”
Researchers recently tagged Kerby with a camera to study his behavior, but they were unable to recover the camera or the seal’s body.
“The members of the public who had found the seal had disentangled it, brought the net in, then went to try and recover (Kerby),” Littnan said. “And by that time another seal had come by and was actually being quite defensive.”
Littnan said there is a chance the data from the camera attached to Kerby’s body can still be recovered, “but ultimately the big news is the tragedy of the loss of this valuable seal.”
“It’s situations like this that hopefully make fisherman stop and think, scientists stop and think, make everybody stop and think what can we do better to protect the things that we do and protect the animals that are trying to coexist with us,” Littnan said.
Hawaii solar energy programs for low-income families failing
HONOLULU (AP) — Gov. David Ige’s plan to make solar energy available to the masses by creating a community program has not taken off after two years of deliberation.
This has led to the state’s wealthy residents being the ones reaping solar benefits.
The governor’s community solar law was signed in 2015, but has yet to help homeowners. In addition, a loan program designed to help make energy more affordable for low-income families is also floundering.
Community solar allows renters to pay a set amount per month in return for a share of the electricity produced by a solar farm.
Mark Duda, principal at Distributed Energy Partners, said a community solar program is necessary to break the barriers of entry.
“Historically, you’ve needed in one way or another to own or control property in order to participate in rooftop solar or bill-offsetting programs; (community solar) breaks that linkage,” Duda said.
The loan program raised roughly $150 million through a bond sale but has lent less than 2 percent of the funds to date — missing the original goal to have issued all of the funds by the end of November 2016.
Another large barrier to solar panels regularly being installed on roofs is the state’s low homeownership. Only about 57 percent of residents own their homes in Hawaii. Renters are essentially out of luck when it comes to benefiting from solar.
The only incentives that have seen success have gone primarily to the wealthy, Hawaii Chief Economist Eugene Tian said.
From 2011 to 2014, about 43 percent of residents who claimed the state’s renewable-energy tax credit made more than $100,000, an income bracket that accounts for 14 percent of the population.
Congressional delegation tries to stop farmer’s deportation
HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii’s congressional delegation is urging U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to stop the deportation of a Hawaii coffee farmer.
Andres Magana Ortiz is ordered to report to U.S. immigration officials in Honolulu on Thursday with a bag packed to return to Mexico, his immigration attorney James Stanton said.
The delegation’s letter Monday to Kelly asks him to exercise his prosecutorial discretion to allow him to remain in Hawaii, where is a coffee farmer on the Big Island and married to a U.S. citizen.
“We agree that persons that pose a threat to national security and public safety should be a priority for deportation proceedings. However, Mr. Magana Ortiz poses no such threat to national security or public safety and therefore should not be a priority for removal,” said the letter signed by U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa and U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard. “Rather, it is in our national interest for Mr. Magana Ortiz to remain in the United States where he can continue to work, pay taxes and raise a family.”
Magana Ortiz entered Arizona illegally in 1989 when he was 15, Stanton said. His wife is petitioning for him to become a legal permanent resident. The delegation’s letter also asks that a review of her petition be expedited.
His case gained attention after a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge criticized the Trump administration’s order to deport him. However, the court lacked authority to block the order.
“President Trump has claimed that his immigration policies would target the ‘bad hombres,’ ” Judge Stephen Reinhardt said in an opinion issued last week. “The government’s decision to remove Magana Ortiz shows that even the ‘good hombres’ are not safe.”
