LIHU‘E — Months have passed since massive fish kills were first reported on the islands of Ni‘ihau, Lehua and Kaua‘i, yet answers for what caused them to occur are still hard to come by. “The investigation is continuing and the
LIHU‘E — Months have passed since massive fish kills were first reported on the islands of Ni‘ihau, Lehua and Kaua‘i, yet answers for what caused them to occur are still hard to come by.
“The investigation is continuing and the results haven’t been released,” said Francis Oishi, recreational fisheries program manager for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Aquatic Resources, on Thursday. “It is up to the chemists … they have their own time table and we just have to be patient.”
Previously, only one sample of the “freshest fish” collected in February on Ni‘ihau by Don Heacock, Aquatic Biologist for the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources, was sent for examination. No link was detected between the rodenticide applications administered in January on Lehua and the death of that particular adult male trigger fish, or humuhumu‘ele‘ele.
“We don’t know if that one trigger fish was representative of the rest of them,” Heacock said in a phone interview Thursday. “We kind of have to assume that, but we don’t know for sure.”
Heacock believes the fish had died only minutes before it was found on Feb. 2 and “died from acute trauma to the gills.”
Additional fish were collected on Ni‘ihau on Feb. 2 and Feb. 3 by both Bruce Robinson and Heacock, but those samples were kept frozen in the weeks that followed. However, approximately one month ago, the frozen samples were sent to the California Department of Fish and Games, as well as the Department of Agriculture Toxicology Laboratories, for further testing.
The only problem, Heacock said, is that when samples are frozen, certain chemicals and conditions that may have caused trauma to the gills are no longer detectable.
“If you suspect a certain chemical in a fish kill, you wouldn’t want to freeze the fish, you want to keep them on ice, as fresh as possible,” Heacock said. “When you freeze something, you do tissue damage as well, which masks some of the kinds of physical damage that can be caused by certain chemicals.”
Supplementary analysis for diphacinone — the active ingredient in rodenticide — conducted by the California Department of Fish and Games found no evidence of the chemical present in the liver of the fishes, Heacock said.
The presence of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, was also tested for.
“They searched for a whole group of those toxins, but didn’t find anything,” he said, adding that assessments for other compounds might still be evaluated.
Heacock also suggests that the fish had originally washed ashore on Ni‘ihau Jan. 17, but since DLNR was not contacted until over two weeks later, samples taken were not ideal for proper examination.
“We’re all in the canoe together paddling and we’ve all got to coordinate information so we can find out what causes these things so we can prevent them from ever happening again,” he said. “When people see something like this, a fish kill or marine animal dying or dead in the water, they should report it as soon as possible.”
Dr. Carl Berg, a Kaua‘i biologist, also advises that community members should inform others of fish kills as soon as they occur, although he admits to still being frustrated that answers about the multiple fish kills have not yet been unearthed.
“I’m disappointed that no one in the government did extensive testing to discover what it was that caused the fish kill,” he said.
While speculation abounded that military activities may have caused the fish kills, PMRF spokesman Tom Clements responded to the allegations via e-mail.
“I’d like to further clarify that all activities that took place on the range during this time were normal and within the scope of our EIS (Environmental Impact Statement), to include both classified and unclassified operations,” he wrote.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service also recently released data regarding three whale strandings which occurred during the same time period on Kaua‘i, Ni‘ihau and Lana‘i.
“During whale season about 20 percent of young whales don’t make it through their first year,” said David Schofield, Marine Mammal Response coordinator for NOAA, indicating that the deaths were not unusual and were most likely due to natural causes. “Two or three whale calves a year is right in there with the average.”
Spokespersons for DLNR and the state Department of Health were not able to provide responses by press time with regards to whether or not official results will ever be released to the public.
To report a fish kill 24 hours a day, seven days a week, call DLNR at 643-3567 or DOH at 808-247-2191.
• Coco Zickos, business writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or czickos@kauaipubco.com
