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Thanks for the information, Kim.
"Since 1975, a total of 51 biocontrol
species have been introduced to Hawai‘i after thorough testing — none
have switched hosts to non-target species, and none have resulted in
the eradication of their host."
This has really opened my eyes, I thought the introduction of new species just asn't done any more. They seem to spend a lot of time on these studies, I wonder if anything is underway for the coqui?
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The meeting venue is changed to UC100, larger room..... & more Government reps seem to be going....
6-8pm tonight
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Awesome turnout (one thing to note, ALL of the panel members were VERY supportive of the number & diversity that showed up....) It was standing room only throughout most of the meeting. At the beginning Cliff was very clear on how the meeting was to be run, and stuck to the plan, against a least one very vocal audience member (who repeatedly interupted the panel speakers during their presentations, until he was asked to leave... with escort)
This was set up & run as an informational meeting & it did cover a lot of the information on the intorduction of the invasive strawberry guava weed (intorduced from Brazil to HI in the 1820's, so not a real 'cultural' or 'Hawaiian' plant), The impact this plant is having on the native forest, the fact that the guava has an incredable replication rate of 10-14% per year!, the erradication problems (esp. with that population increase) - on the scale side; the investigation, the life cycle, the testing both in Brazil & the testing at Volcano on this scale and all of other potential hosts...
Very inclusive information (at least a couple of semesters of research to get the information they presented tonight!
They did have a short Q & A session (unfortunately shorter than the original plan, because of the one audience member that dominated some of the time...)
Cliff also promised that for any questions that were not answered, he would get answers & send them to the people (this included a lot of questions, some questions that were not related to the strawberry guava & the panels expertise...)
I was very impressed with the caliper of the panel, and could see that a lot of the audience (some of whom were very upset at the beginning) where impressed with the work the panel had done.... and the panel seemed very impressed with the audience (even the one who felt his voice should be the only one heard, up until his last outburst was treated with respect..)
Carey...
I have no trust in Cliff Tsuji after he burned the Hawaiian community with the quick wording switch with the recent GMO Taro Bill.
Tsuji Must GO!
I challenge Tsuji to come on to Punaweb and explain many of his recent votes.
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Lower your expectations and be ready for anything.
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Just curious... about what was said, about pot growers hiding their crops with the guava and does the erad program "expect" to get any revenue for coh or state or the feds if they find pot crops??
Could this be a reason its getting so much attention from the bigger guys??[
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Also is there money to be made from the galls I know its an ingredient in some beauty products?[:I]
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Punamom, is that for real? Galls might have a value in beauty products? Stranger things have happened,ever seen ambergris? We could use any potentialy profitible crop for this economy.
Gordon J Tilley
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1. the Tribune reporter, John Burnett, went out of the room when Syndey Singer left, so he didn't seem to realize that there were more presentations AFTER Singer left. Burnett reported that Singer left "After all of the presentations were made" (Tribune 6/6/08 pg.A8) ... too bad he didn't stay for ALL of the presenters...
(I should add, Singer had interrupted numerous times, inc. interrupting the first speaker as he began he presentation with a challenge on his acedemic qualifications - the speaker had a PhD in botany, Singers web site states that he received his MS after four years in two separate PhD programs - I dunno, that is the weirdest way I have heard of saying you have a masters.... think the guy has PhD envy..... but THAT IS TOTALLY MY TOUGHT)
2. No one mentioned pot....or pot eradication... Or even where funds would come from
(the only funding mentions were that the scale introduction reduce the control costs by a factor of 10 over the cost of using only mechanical & herbicide controls that are being used today.... and that current funding only allows for the control of very limited acreage in highly sensitive areas)
3. No mention was made of any commercial value in the gall, there was a question on whether ingesting a leaf with gall would be harmful, and the panel answered that it would just be ingesting a bug....
(can I just say that the gall/cosmetic thing is just ewwwwy?)
The panel was not really 'one sided', however most were scientists who had been researching and working with the increasing problem that strawberry guava is presenting ....
10-14% population/acreage growth means that the acreage overtaken doubles every 5-7 years... that means 1 acre of strawberry guava becomes over 500 acres of strawberry guava every 50-70 years.... that rate of increase is very serious, and I think that all of the panelists were concerned about what can we do now... this plant can overtake about 47% of the islands forest (most of the east side low & midland forests & some west side midland forests) if it is not controlled... control costs start at over $200 per acre using mechanical & herbicide methods....
If you are for using mechanical and herbicide.... get out there and volunteer for the eradication. I know we did it for one day when we first moved here.... this is REAL work!... in order to control this plant currently, everyone on island must get involved! (literally pay for or eradicate an acre per person is the scale that will give more time ... that is the fact.... either that or native forests will continue to be overtaken.
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What objections did Mr Singer have to the slowing up of a destructive and invasive species? Did he come up with any science, or just his opinions?
I see from his website that he thinks wearing bras and sleeping on beds causes cancer so I expect the worst.
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