Kealoha Pisciotta - Mauka & Makai

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Kealoha Pisciotta, leader of one faction among the groups with anti-TMT sentiments and builder of a personal ahu on Mauna Kea which was subsequently removed as it’s construction was not authorized, had charges in an unrelated whale burial incident dropped recently. She had transferred a dying whale from a west Hawaii shoreline to a burial at sea, against NOAA regulations. Pisciotta claimed she followed ancient Hawaiian whale burial practices, which in this case included taking the whale out to sea, then weighing it down with rocks to sink into the ocean. It was not confirmed the whale had died before the burial took place.

NOAA was unable to verify whether the whale had actually died, as sometimes sick whales go into “dive mode” and hold their breath for as long as an hour

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/38701...dead-whale

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-ameri...le-n637651

[snorkle]

Mahalo Kealoha; For your years of selfless work for the protection and care of endangered Marine Mammals.

Prepare yourself for the coming onslaught of punaweb "experts", who probably can't distinguish humane cultural practices from the imprisoned animals at Waikoloa. You truely are a "protector" (in the real sense of the word, without the finger mimed parenthesis that usually accompany the word here).

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

your years of selfless work for the protection and care

Someone can contribute actively to the welfare of (in this case) marine animals, even for many years. But that doesn't provide them with the depth of training a marine biologist would have which would prevent a serious error in judgement, because a marine biologist's training is not necessarily part of a Hawaiian practitioner's skill set.

There's an old timey saying for this type of situation, because it's been going on forever:

"A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing."
Especially when you believe, even sincerely, that you have it all covered from mauka to makai.

Is the jury still deadlocked? The odds that natural climate variability can account for the magnitude of the temperature changes over the course of the satellite record are roughly five in a million, researchers report. - Science, July 19, 2018.

[MarkP]

I had never heard of Native Hawaiians burying marine mammals at sea. For the record I still have not heard of any reliable account of how ancient Hawaiians would have dealt with a sick or dead whale in that Pisciotta has shown herself to be an unreliable source of information in the past when it serves her purpose. I imagine that there is a certain amount of self interest in removing such a large corpse from your neighborhood.

I simply have heard nothing one way or the other in the past except that years ago somebody killed a Monk seal and tried to use Native Hawaiian gathering rights as his defense. Was that guy the "real Hawaiian" or was Pisciotta (or neither)?

[MarkD]

In a sense it is welcome that people of Native Hawaiian background might have some basis to challenge NOAA rules on harassing marine mammals or endangered marine species under their defense of indigenous rights (e.g. some far north tribal peoples legally hunt whale).

Because no one else has a chance agains NOAA--one of the more imperious federal agencies there is.

Paddling a kayak half mile off shore and see a whale and take a few strokes toward it? Guilty of a major federal violation that could cost you thousands.

And several researchers trying film a pack of sharks feeding on a dying whale ended up pulling back because of concerns they were violating federal law.

These are just anecdotes (not going to cite links), but it is clear that NOAA nationwide is ramping up enforcement, in spite of evidence that humpback whales' populations are rising.

http://us.whales.org/blog/2017/02/humpba...extinction

And check out the IUCN listing. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/13006/0 We can call this an inconvenient truth for humpback whale conservationists.

We see more whales around Hawaii each year; that means more ship, kayak, surfer to whale encounters. And much more potential for NOAA citations.

Prediction: It is going to get worse with monk seals. These mammals, barely present in the main islands 40 years ago, are now proliferating. There is a claim the population is not doing well overall, but there is much evidence the population in the main islands is rising. More beaches closed. Sometimes the seals bite and harass people.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/11718...-off-kauai

More potential for NOAA prosecutions in human-seal interactions that Hawaii will increasingly see in coming years....

NOAA and other marine life conservationists do good work in matters like protecting Kona's sleeping dolphins from bothersome snorkelers. But these officials and allied protectors have too much power and are prone to using it imperiously.

And they seem to want to deny the basic science fact that many populations like turtles and humpback whales have rebounded well. Influence of animal rights activists?

[snorkle]

The edge says:"
Someone can contribute actively to the welfare of (in this case) marine animals, even for many years. But that doesn't provide them with the depth of training a marine biologist would have which would prevent a serious error in judgement, because a marine biologist's training is not necessarily part of a Hawaiian practitioner's skill set."

I stand corrected. The Kanaka Maoli didn't thrive here for a thousand years by developing a sophisticated marine and terrestrial conservation system. They probably had 80% of their goods delivered by barge from Tahiti by the Teva Brothers shipping Company; who, of course used GPS navigation in its earlier configuration.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

developing a sophisticated marine and terrestrial conservation system.

What effect did their sophisticated conservation system have on sea turtles, sandalwood trees, any bird that happened to have red feathers...

Is the jury still deadlocked? The odds that natural climate variability can account for the magnitude of the temperature changes over the course of the satellite record are roughly five in a million, researchers report. - Science, July 19, 2018.

[snorkle]

You're not demonstrating a very good understanding of the Hawaiian culture. Their whole Ahupua'a (land division) system was set up to manage (as opposed to exploit) their resources. There are plenty of books available that explain this; or you could try approaching a Kanaka and asking him/her.

edited to add; Sandlewood or any other resource that was exploited occured after contact, and therefore were a deviation from the system.

Birds were not killed for their feathers, silly.

“Maka`ala ke kanaka kahea manu" (A man who calls birds should always be alert).” lelo no`eau means that the bird catchers, or the kanaka kahea manu, imitated the birds calls to attract them near and only pluck out a small amount of feathers and let them go. Once the bird catcher called the bird, he had be alert to catch the birds quickly.

The endangerment of native birds is because of invasive species and habitat diminishing. (western contributions)

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

The endangerment of native birds is because of invasive species and habitat diminishing. (western contributions)

Or the arrival of early Hawaiians, long, long before Captain Cook:
Having established itself across the main islands of Hawai#699;i…before the arrival of human beings, the adaptable #699;io weathered the onslaught of environmental change that began with the expansion of the early Hawaiians [in the ninth century A.D.]. Within a few centuries, lowland forests were greatly altered and diminished as growing human populations burned wide areas for…agriculture. Many bird species became extinct,
https://paradiseofthepacific.wordpress.c...-of-birds/

Is the jury still deadlocked? The odds that natural climate variability can account for the magnitude of the temperature changes over the course of the satellite record are roughly five in a million, researchers report. - Science, July 19, 2018.

[snorkle]

Sure the early Hawaiians had an impact; but it was infinitesimal compared to the post contact environmental change. The key differences in the Hawaiian culture and Western culture were resource management vs resource exploitation.

In an aside relevant today, the Hawaiians lived in Puna all this time and didn't lose a lot of Hale through stupid construction practices.

Respect the culture. We could very well learn something.