2. Three of the top issues facing the environment in Hawaii are:
• Invasive Species
• Trash
• Water Pollution
3. New species become invasive when the native
species have not evolved to compete or coexist
with them.
4. An example of an invasive species in Hawaii would be the ring-nosed parakeet.
5. Specifically dealing with the environment, invasive species
“negatively impact biodiversity and can cause species
extirpation or extinction.”
6. Trash continues to be a problem for the islands of Hawaii. In 2014, over 57 tons of trash
was picked up by The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
7. With Hawaii’s wildlife, many seabirds and marine life are
ingesting the plastic particles coming from trash on the shore.
8. The trash coming in from the ocean is also a affecting habitats in the water
and the growth of recently discovered species.
9. Along with invasive species and trash, water pollution is also
hurting the environment of Hawaii.
10. Surfrider’s Blue Water Task Force program has been testing the water quality
of many popular public areas only to find that many fail to meet the public
Health standards.
11. Marisco Limited has been found violating the Clean Water Act and with their
reparations it is estimate a “reduction of about 295 pounds per year of copper, 94
pounds per year of zinc, 14 pounds of solids and 8 pounds of oil and grease to the
harbor waters.”
There are certainly many others that are also greatly impacting the Hawaiian environment.
“Humans move species from one place to another, and this has resulted in the introduction of species such as deer, goats, ants, coqui frogs, miconia, and others into Hawai‘i.” Invasive species are also called this “due to their ability or potential to cause harm to Hawaii’s environment, economy, or way of life” (Hawaii.gov).
This species was transported to the Hawaiian island over 50 years ago. Since then, their numbers have grown exceedingly which has led to many different problems. With the sweet local fruit grown here, it is no surprise that these birds have been going after them. Not only have they been eating away at farmers’ crops, but they also are raising a health concern with their feces landing on the produce.
Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth. Extirpation is the local extinction of a species in one geographical area.
Obviously this is a serious health concern to those species as plastic is not mean to be ingested by any animal.
The world’s largest sponge was discovered here in 2016 Hawaii roughly the size of a mini-van.
“In 2015, seven streams -- ones that families and children commonly choose to splash around in -- failed to meet public health
standards over 90% of the time they were tested. Four of those streams failed health standards every single time they were tested. The state standard is 130 colonies of enterococcus bacteria per 100 ml of water. The average bacteria count measured by the Kaua’i BWTF during 2015 was over 10,000 colonies of enterococcus, up from an average count of 9,000 measured in 2014.”
Marisco Limited is an industrial machine shop which had to pay “$710,000 for water pollution control violations at its ship repair and drydock facilities at Kalaeloa Barbers Point Harbor on Oahu.” 2013