Every year on Kaua‘i, nearly 1,500 Newell Shearwaters are attracted to bright lights, fly into unseen objects, and fall, during their annual autumn flights to the sea from Kaua‘i nesting sites. Fortunately, most can be saved after the fall. “In
Every year on Kaua‘i, nearly 1,500 Newell Shearwaters are attracted to bright lights, fly into unseen objects, and fall, during their annual autumn flights to the sea from Kaua‘i nesting sites. Fortunately, most can be saved after the fall.
“In 2003, KIUC replaced the last 700 old-style lights to insure all 3,049 lights on KIUC poles followed the Save our Shearwater (SOS) program’s lighting recommendations,” said Alton Miyamoto, president and chief executive officer of Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative.
“But we knew then we could do more,” he said.
All cooperative businesses adhere to seven cooperative principles.
In response to the seventh principle, concern for community, KIUC leaders will help fund an advertising and educational program in 2004, Miyamoto announced.
KIUC leaders are currently working with local entertainers to create a “moveable,” shearwater-education program for elementary and middle-school students. “The message to students is simple,” continued Miyamoto: “Everyone Can Help.” KIUC officials will run public-service announcements throughout the season, run updates and information on the Web site, www.kiuc.coop, and, in September, take their show on the road together with “Wala‘au’s” Dickie Chang and Storybook Theatre’s Mark Jeffers and Russell da Rooster.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is the primary federal agency dedicated to protecting threatened and endangered sea birds. Officials at the FWS commended the SOS program for its 25-plus years of seabird-conservation efforts, and enthusiastically support KIUC’s involvement in the program’s perpetuation and enhancement, a federal official said.
For more information about FWS activities in this area, please contact Jenness McBride, a fish and wildlife biologist at FWS, 1-808-792-9408.
