Fish and Limu are allowed on HSF

Responding to the letter of 11/17 in The Garden Island News, "Superferry concerns need perspective" from Peter Antonson where he states, "...hundreds of pounds of fish have not been removed from Maui," and "During the summer, Maui's mayor got hysterical about 400 pounds of fish in a month that never left Maui."

Actually, fish and limu are allowed to be transported on the Superferry. It is the opihi, crustaceans, and rocks that are not allowed on the Superferry. In the case of opihi, unless they are immature, there is no penalty for being caught attempting to smuggle them aboard. Fish and limu are allowed to 'flow freely.'

And how much was that? When ridership on the ferry was low in the Spring and Fall it was not much, but when ridership was high in May thru August the amount of fish and limu that was transported via HSF was significant. From the Oversight Taskforce Committee/DLNR reports for fish that was: 370lbs., 316lbs., 488lbs., and 190lbs. in successive months. For limu it was: 477lbs. and 475lbs. in successive months. This does not include significant weights of opihi that were confiscated after having been harvested and killed nevertheless.

Let us be clear, with an inadequate Governor's EO and Act 2, neighbor island resource depletion is a real issue when the Superferry is running at high ridership. Thankfully it has been running at low ridership since late August, and not to Kauai at all. For interested readers there is a new video on Youtube "Superferry Plunder: Kauai fishermen talk story" about this:





Aloha, Brad