To U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolutions. Re: Recommendations for protection/management of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands’ coral reef ecosystem: It is hard to persuade people to care about a place that they do not know exists. While the Northwestern Hawaiian
To U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolutions. Re: Recommendations for protection/management of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands’ coral reef ecosystem: It is hard to persuade people to care about a place that they do not know exists. While the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have heretofore retained much of their biodiversity precisely because they are remote and largely unknown even to many (perhaps most) Hawai’i residents, I submit that this may not be the case much longer. The planet grows ever smaller as more and more humans find more and more ways to reach its farthest places, whether physically by means of improved transport or vicariously by electronic media.
Although the islands may not be in immediate danger of being overrun by people, this might happen. Certainly our species has already affected the area through military use, exploitation of marine and avian life, introduction of alien species such as rabbits and canaries, dumping, etc. It does not take many humans or much human activity to damage these delicate ecosystems.
How important, then, that those who would manage these ecosystems find ways to inform the public about the islands and their significance. This is not happening.
Yes, I know the University of Hawai’i has programs. These, however, reach only an elite. Most of our citizens will not study marine science at UH or travel to Midway as ecotourists. What is to be done for them?
Most popular teaching of Hawaiian history, geography, etc. ignores the Northwest islands. How often do people here (let alone mainlanders, who think we all live on one island) say/teach “facts,” such as there are eight Hawaiian islands, or the northernmost Hawaiian island is Kaua’i, etc. Our voters, our schoolchildren, our visitors all have the right/obligation to know the true extent of our archipelago.
Imagine the people of New York City not knowing that Long Island exists, or the citizens of San Francisco not knowing about Marin County. Isn’t it just as absurd that so few of us know about more than the Lower Eight? In an age of advanced mapping and imaging systems, there is no excuse for our people not knowing the boundaries of their own state.
A high priority of any management plan for the Northwest Hawaiian Islands should include development of a systematic program of education for all the public, not just for the small number that physically visit the area or study marine biology in the university system. Don’t we already have the technology and vision to do this? Besides teaching the geography, history, biology, etc. of this fascinating region, this curriculum could also open the planning process outlined in the recent statewide meetings to more participants.
Perhaps it is naively optimistic to think that promulgation of such a program could also become an avenue for interagency co-operation, and thus help solve one of the major problems of the present management arrangement.
Whether increased knowledge of the islands will lead to better care for them is anyone’s guess. At the very least, however, it can enlarge the pool of ideas and individuals that may lead to improvements. Again, it is hard to get people to ponder and discuss the future of a place they do not know exists.
H. M. WYETH, Anahola
