• ‘Social sin’ response • Sportfishing is non-depleting • Taro bill fear-based ‘Social sin’ response I feel compelled to correct the misinformation in the letter from Diana LaBedz (“GMOs and pollution as ‘social sin,’” Letters, March 15): While Bishop Girotti’s
• ‘Social sin’ response
• Sportfishing is non-depleting
• Taro bill fear-based
‘Social sin’ response
I feel compelled to correct the misinformation in the letter from Diana LaBedz (“GMOs and pollution as ‘social sin,’” Letters, March 15):
While Bishop Girotti’s comments during an interview with the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano clearly imply that biotechnology for health care is considered a “social sin,” they do not reject agricultural biotechnology. In fact, in 2003, the Compendium of the Roman Catholic Church stated that the Catholic Church supports plant biotechnology and acknowledged the potential benefits the technology has in helping to alleviate world hunger.
Bishop Gianfranco Girotti listed the seven social sins as:
• “Bioethical” violations such as birth control.
• “Morally dubious” experiments such as stem cell research.
• Drug abuse.
• Polluting the environment.
• Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor.
• Excessive wealth.
• Creating poverty.
Plant biotechnology is a powerful tool that helps farmers provide food, feed, fiber and fuel to a growing global population, all while reducing agriculture’s footprint on the environment. Scientists around the world have reached an agreement that biotech foods are safe to eat, and many global health organizations have acknowledged the potential of biotechnology to address food insecurity. In 2003, the Pontifical Academy of Science concluded that agricultural biotechnology is a powerful tool for combating world hunger.
While there is no single economic and environmental solution, biotechnology can play a role in enhancing the global food supply, improving the economic situation of poor rural communities in the developing world, and stimulating meaningful employment options here on a sustainable Kaua‘i.
Sarah Styan
President, Hawaii Crop Improvement Association
Sportfishing is non-depleting
I’ve been a fisherman all my life, both commercial and sport. As big as our oceans are, it is possible to fish them out. The East Coast fishermen who fished codfish on the Grand Banks found that out. Movies such as “Captains Courageous,” with Spencer Tracy and Freddie Bartholomew, showed us the fabulous Gloucester schooners with their decks piled high with individual fishing dories. They are things of the past.
Today, fishing boats are getting bigger and deadlier and growing in number. The race for the dollar is all-consuming, and the fish population in our Hawaiian waters is declining. The protective measures mentioned in The Garden Island are absolutely necessary.
Enforcement of these measures should be diligent, especially when it comes to foreign-flag boats fishing in our waters.
Yellowfin, bluefin and albacore are highly valued tuna for their flavor and texture. There has to be a distinction between sport fishermen and commercial fishermen. It is impossible for sport fishermen to affect the fish population. The thrill of hearing a 14-O reel sing out as a 200 pound yellowfin takes 400 yards of line straight down is an experience which may be harder to realize as deadly purse seiners deplete our stocks.
The previous methods of catching tuna were primarily by jack pole.
On the West Coast, California tuna clippers had bait tanks on deck filled with large anchovies. They had mechanical refrigeration, which allowed them to fish the West Coast of South America. The bait man would dip his scoop net into the bait tank and chum the waters behind the boat with live anchovies. The tuna would go crazy around the stern of the boat and the fishermen, standing in steel racks would use stout bamboo poles to with short lines and barbless hooks to literally jack the fish aboard.
In Hawai‘i, aku boats ranged from 60 to 90 feet. They had baitwells in the hull, which were filled with nehu (small anchovies) netted from beaches such as Kihei on Maui.
During World War II before I was drafted into the Army, I was chief engineer on the Helena, a 65-foot aku boat, fishing out of Mala wharf in Lahaina. Our boat was painted white instead of the traditional sampan blue, and American flags were displayed at the bow and flown from the mast. We netted our nehu at Kihei and then caught our aku in the waters between Lanai and Kahoolawi. We had to be in port before dark. We used ice for refrigeration and jackpoled the aku into the boat standing on the fantail. Sato Store and Kadotani fish market took all the fish that we could catch. The Office of Price Administration price was 35 cents a pound right off the boat.
During the war, people of Japanese ancestry were not allowed on fishing boats. Our crew on the Helena were of Filipino ancestry.
From them I learned to cook rice on a wood burning stove and to cook sampan soup with aku heads, onion, ginger, tomatoes, bok choy and watercress. Broke da mout.
Harry Boranian
Lihu‘e
Taro bill fear-based
Choose Education, not fear. Say no to Senate Bill 958 on GMO taro research.
SB958, the proposed 10-year moratorium on taro research, is a fear-based reaction to genetic engineering and to the fear of the unknown. It is not based on science or facts.
I’m a strong proponent for science- and technology-based education and jobs in Hawai‘i. These jobs will allow the residents and children of Hawai‘i to compete in the global economy and maintain living standards. At a Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce event on May 30, 2007, Gov. Linda Lingle signed a law designed to help transform the state’s economy from one “based on land development to one based on innovation and developing Hawai‘i’s human capital.”
This transition will be a journey that will not occur overnight. SB958 is a huge step backward on this journey, and it sends the wrong message to our residents and children. It says that we can ignore science and technology and facts when they don’t agree with our political objectives.
Biotechnology is not only science for the future. Our world has changed. Right now, our world is a place where biotechnology is making a difference in people’s lives. I encourage readers to educate themselves so they can overcome their fear.
Hopefully, SB958 will be defeated and the people of Hawai‘i will continue down the road to a transformed economy fueled by a workforce skilled in science, technology engineering and math (STEM) disciplines.
Frank Altobelli
Kalaheo
