Outsiders are overfishing
in Niihau watersOff-island visitors, both human and animal, are upsetting the natural balance of tiny, privately owned Niihau, according to Gov. Linda Lingle, who visited the island yesterday.
Lingle visited Niihau yesterday after receiving permission from the island's owners, the Robinson family.
Lingle said the dry, isolated island with a population of 160, nearly all native Hawaiian, has a problem with outsiders coming and overfishing nearby waters. Visitors are also taking large quantities of the succulent island delicacy, opihi, a shellfish that lives along rocky shore breaks.
"One lady told a story about how last weekend, some people not from the island took out 90 gallons of opihi, to sell.
"For the people of Niihau, who live a subsistence lifestyle, it is their food," Lingle said.
Not all the trouble is caused by people, however. Thanks to the encouragement of the Robinson family, Lingle said, the island is also home to about 100 Hawaiian monk seals, who are also competing with the islanders for fish and opihi.
The seals are endangered and protected by federal law.
Lingle said her administration would research what regulations could be put in place to help the Niihau islanders.
"Perhaps a natural reserve is one approach," Lingle said.
Keith Robinson, who with his brother Bruce, owns Niihau, said there are plenty of fish for both Niihau residents and the monk seals. But he said the problem is that both commercial and sport fishermen have overfished the waters around Niihau for years.
State law enforcement officials make no attempt to check the catches or the size of nets used by fishing boats, Robinson said. Niihau residents are not confrontational and do not challenge outsiders whom they frequently see coming ashore to pick opihi.
Unlike every other island in Hawaii, the beaches of Niihau are not public property. The Robinson family bought the rights to the beaches when they bought the island from the Hawaiian monarchy in the 1860s.
