Honolulu Weekly

In these days of immigrant crackdowns and color-coded terror alerts, a group of state and federal officials convened in Honolulu late last week to discuss a real threat to the Islands: invasive species.

The invitation-only Hawaii Biosecurity Forum was closed to the media and general public, reportedly so policy-makers could talk candidly about how to prevent the ongoing introduction of pest plants and animals, without violating international trade agreements.

It seems these agreements were negotiated from an economic perspective that aimed to ease the flow of foreign imports and exports, with little thought to the diseases, weeds and troublesome critters, like mites and ants, that can tag along with globally traded products.

The agreements place emphasis on national, rather than local, control. Under the federal Plant Protection Act, state agencies may not regulate foreign imports, including biocontrol organisms and known pests like noxious weeds or impose rules that are stricter than federal regulations. Exemptions to these rules are granted only by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, who considers each request on a case-by-case basis that tends to evaluate pests on their potential risk to mainland crops and ecosystems.

State agriculture officials have criticized that approach because it’s slow and fails to consider the unique conditions of the Hawaiian Islands, which produces bananas and other products that aren’t cultivated in the contiguous 48 states.

Local conservationists say these trade agreements have especially serious implications for Hawai’i, contributing to its dubious distinction as the endangered species capital of the nation.

Lloyd Loope, a Maui-based conservation biologist and invasive species expert, says introduced pests jeopardize Hawaii’s remarkable biodiversity. The Islands have some 10,000 species of plants and animals found nowhere else on earth, and all of its native ecosystems have been impacted by alien species.

Other U.S. possessions in the Pacific also are at risk, according to a written statement by Christopher Puttock, coordinator of the Hawaii Conservation Alliance, which hosted the forum. ‘As we’ve seen time and again, Hawai’i is the stepping stone across the Pacific. We get what’s en-route to and from Asia and the continental U.S., and in turn, we pass these invasive species to American Samoa and other islands.’

Federal officials attending the forum weren’t especially sympathetic to Hawai’i’s plight, but they did offer some advice. Rather than emphasize how special the Islands are, the state’s applications for exemptions would be better received if they stress that excluding Hawai’i’s small market from trade agreements won’t cost other nations much money.