Ka`u News Briefs Saturday, June 20, 2015

A NEW DATA SET OF DIRECTION and speed of ocean surface currents in Hilo Bay is now available online. Hourly updates are free and accessible to the public on Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System’ interactive mapping platform Voyager. 

      Mapping ocean surface currents in near real-time provides valuable data for search and rescue operations by narrowing down the possible location of the missing person or vessel. The new data set also helps forecast distribution of oil or hazardous material spills, making it crucial to plan an adequate response. Marine navigation can benefit from near real-time surface currents for safe navigation. Other examples of surface currents data usage include water quality monitoring and forecast modeling.
      “We are excited about the new ocean surface current data for Hilo,” said Jason Adolf, Associate Professor and Chair of the Marine Science Department at the University of Hawai`i-Hilo. “It complements the PacIOOS wave buoy and water quality buoy off Hilo Harbor.”
      Adolf said the new data set also contributes to educational activities for the university’s marine science curriculum and helps raise public awareness in partnership with Mokupapapa Discovery Center.”
      See http://goo.gl/jc04t7.

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HAWAI`I WILDLIFE FUND’S Marine Debris Project has received a crowd-funded donation of $4,000 from 255 donors across Japan. Project coordinator and marine biologist Megan Lamson met up with nature photographer and ocean advocate Junji Takasago to accept the funds last month. 

       Lamson said the donation will be used to continue beach cleanups and outreach work related to marine debris on Hawai`i Island. HWF and volunteers have removed over 177 U.S. tons of marine debris in Hawai`i since beginning cleanup efforts in 2003.
      HWF estimates that at least 15 to 20 tons of marine debris wash ashore annually along a 10-mile stretch of shoreline in Ka`u and South Kona and will continue to do so until reduction of single-use plastic consumption occurs around the globe.
      “Marine debris is a people problem, and because of that it gives us hope, as people can also fix this problem,” said marine scientist Stacey Breining, HWF’s Marine Debris Mentor and Outreach Specialist.
        “Our team with Hawai`i Wildlife Fund is most honored to accept this generous donation for marine debris removal efforts and communication related to the Great East Japan Earthquake and resulting Japanese tsunami,” Lamson said. “We are humbled by the generosity of this crowd-funded project and hope to maintain contact with the organizers and the 255 contributors into the future.”

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GOV. DAVID IGE RETURNED from Japan yesterday after his first international trip as governor. 

      In 3.5 days, Ige attended 19 meetings and events, including a 30-minute meeting with Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The governor and Chief of Staff Mike McCartney also met with various travel industry partners and leaders and a range of corporations and businesses to discuss tourism to Hawai`i, easing access to the Hawaiian Islands through the pre-clearance program and a variety of ways to boost economic and business development in the Hawaiian Islands.
      “It was a positive, insightful and successful trip,” Ige said. “We were welcomed with aloha and reminded that Japan and Hawai`i’s businesses and communities share similar values. Our relationship with Japan is extremely important, and these face-to-face meetings were essential. Japan and Hawai`i already have strong economic, cultural and education ties, and we intend to build upon those ties and relationships as we look toward the future.”
      First Lady Dawn Ige joined the governor on the trip, visiting a sister-city school in Chigasaki as a representative of the state of Hawai`i. Students from the school are planning to visit Hawai`i next year.
      Japan is the state’s number one international market with up to 19 flights a day from six cities to the Hawaiian Islands, bringing in an annual 1.5 million visitors who spend about $2.5 billion a year. That results in $260 million in state tax revenue.

UPON HIS RETURN FROM JAPAN, Gov. David Ige signed into law Act 124, which grants high school diplomas to veterans of the armed forces who were not able to complete their education because of compulsory service in the armed services of the United States during World War II, the Korean Conflict and the Vietnam War.

      Act 124 continues the Hawai`i State Department of Education’s Honorary Kupono Diploma program that was established in 2007 with Act 101, which is set to expire on June 30.

      The statute establishes a program within DOE that not only grants high school diplomas to veterans of the armed forces, but also recognizes Japanese-Americans who were not able to complete high school because they were relocated to internment camps during World War II.
      Since 2008, DOE has awarded 26 high school diplomas, with 25 going to military veterans and one to an internment honoree.
      SB 181/Act 124 continues this program for an additional five years, until 2020.

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NO SMOKING IN HAWAI`I IF UNDER 21 YEARS OF AGE. Gov. David Ige signed the historic tobacco legislation into law yesterday. When enacted on Jan. 1, 2016, Act 122 will make Hawai`i the first state to prohibit the sale, purchase, possession or consumption of cigarettes, other tobacco products and electronic smoking devices to anyone under age 21.
      “Raising the minimum age as part of our comprehensive tobacco control efforts will help reduce tobacco use among our youth and increase the likelihood that our keiki will grow up to be tobacco-free,” Ige said.
      Hawai`i County is one of a handful of cities and counties to have already raised the MLA to 21, having passed the bill last year.
      Ige also signed a bill that makes Hawai`i state parks and beaches smoke-free. Currently, all city and county parks in Hawai`i are smoke-free with the exception of Kaua`i County. The state law will apply to all facilities within the state Park System administered by the Department of Land and Natural Resources as of July 1, 20`5.

      To assist Hawai`i residents comply with the new legislation, tobacco and e-cigarette users are encouraged to contact the Hawai`i Tobacco Quitline for support and free resources, including approved nicotine delivery devices. Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW or see www.hawaiiquitline.org to learn more.
      For more information about Hawai`i’s Tobacco Prevention and Education Program, see www.health.hawaii.gov/tobacco.

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MEMBERS OF KA`U AGRICULTURAL WATER Cooperative District are invited to a conflict resolution workshop a week from today on Saturday, June 27 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Ka`u Coffee Mill. The workshop, sponsored by The Kohala Center, presents skills that current and future board members need in conflict prevention, management and resolution in order for co-ops to be effective.

See kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.pdf and kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.swf.

See kaucalendar.com/KauCalendar_June2015.pdf.