LIHU‘E — Only five of the native Hawaiian honeycreeper species, ‘akikiki, are left in the wild. after a decades-long population decline, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
DLNR officials said they were informed of the ‘akikiki’s status by Kaua‘i Forest Bird Recovery Project Field Supervisor Justin Hite on Tuesday evening. Worse yet, Hite said they were unable to bring the ‘akikiki into captivity without risking death, leaving their chances for survival slim.
“We have suspended any attempts to bring the last five of these birds into safety, as they are molting currently and capturing them is too stressful and would likely lead to their demise,” Hite said.
While the ‘akikiki’s situation seems most dire of all of Hawai‘i’s forest birds, it is not alone in its existential crisis. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, three other Hawaiian honeycreeper species are in danger of extinction in as little as one to two years, with eight other species at risk of extinction in the near future.
Southern house mosquitoes, carrying avian malaria, pose by far the greatest threat to these birds. Because the disease only reached the island within the last century, evolution has provided Hawai‘i’s honeycreepers with little to no immunity against it, resulting in devastating mortality rates when infected.
And while the forest birds have moved to higher elevations where it’s too cold for the mosquitoes to survive, rising air temperatures have allowed mosquitoes to march farther up, shrinking what little safe habitat is left.
“Literally, some of these species like ‘akikiki and ‘akeke‘e, and kiwikiu on Maui, could go extinct within months,” said DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife Administrator David Smith.
“They’re just falling out of the sky. They’ve reached the end of the slippery slope they’ve been on for decades. With temperatures increasing and the mosquitoes getting further up the mountains and bringing the deadly avian malaria with them, they’re just decimating these populations.”
Conservationists have been collecting unhatched bird eggs from these malaria-infested areas and relocating them to conservation centers on Kaua‘i and Maui, but this is only a stopgap measure, as the honeycreepers cannot safely return home unless the threat of avian malaria is eliminated.
To do this, environmentalists plan to utilize what’s known as incompatible insect technique, or IIT. The technique involves releasing male mosquitoes containing a strain of wolbachia, a naturally occurring bacteria, that’s different than the strain in already-present female mosquitoes. When the two incompatible mosquitoes mate, the female creates unviable eggs and offspring, greatly reducing the size of future generations.
“Mosquitoes aren’t native here,” Smith said. “They don’t provide any crucial ecological role. By suppressing mosquitoes, we have a huge environmental positive upside and almost no downside. It’s essentially environmentally benign — in fact, it could help human health issues as well.”
DLNR and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released on July 23 the draft environmental assessment for the wolbachia IIT, although opponents of the project are now seeking a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order to halt the effort. A hearing is scheduled in an O‘ahu Circuit Court on July 21.
While Smith didn’t dismiss the opponents, he stressed the project’s safeguards and importance, noting the degree of care that’s been put into the plan.
“These people mean well, and they want to protect the environment, but they are misinformed and putting the fate of up to 17 species of Hawaiian honeycreepers in peril,” he said. “This is not GMO, and while this would be the first wide-scale conservation use of IIT, it has been used safely and successfully around the world for over 50 years to reduce mosquito populations causing diseases in people.”
In their draft environmental assessment, DLNR and USFWS officials have presented a litany of precautions planned for the project. To ensure the mosquitoes being released are male, pupae are filtered through a sieve, as male pupae are significantly smaller than their female counterparts. Additionally, each individual mosquito is scanned by both humans and artificial intelligence to ensure no female pupae slip through.
Furthermore, the draft environmental assessment found the project would have positive impacts on not just threatened and endangered species, but also on wildlife, vegetation, cultural resources, public health and safety, and recreation and wilderness.
“A huge amount of thought has been put into how we can achieve conservation for our forest birds, for these precious biocultural resources, without having adverse effects on them, their native habitat or any of the other species that occur in those habitats,” said DOFAW Entomologist Cynthia King. “That is foremost on our minds.”
“When we are moving forward with this project, we are conserving biodiversity, but we are also doing this project that’s contributing to public health,” she continued. “It’s contributing to the health of Hawai‘i and the preservation of Hawaiian culture, and these iconic species that are so integral to it.”
Pending regulatory approval, the IIT project is proposed to begin on Kaua‘i this fall.
The draft environmental assessment is available for public comment until July 24. The document is available at dlnr.hawaii.gov/dofaw/comment. Hard copies are also available for review at the Waimea, Lihu‘e and Princeville branches of the Hawai‘i State Public Library System.
Comments can be submitted in multiple ways:
• Online via dlnr.hawaii.gov/dofaw/comment;
• Via email to mosquitocontrol@hawaii.gov;
• Via mail, postmarked by July 24, 2023, to: Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife, Attn: Mosquito Control Project, 1151 Punchbowl Street, Room 325, Honolulu, HI 96813
In order to be considered, comments must be received on or before July 24. All comments and materials received will become part of the public record associated with this action.
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Jackson Healy, reporter, can be reached at 808-647-4966 or jhealy@thegardenisland.com.
Please don’t give up on the captivity of the birds