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Seabird numbers increasing at Kaena Point
A record number of wedge-tailed shearwater seabirds are hatching at Kaena Point Natural Area Reserve a year after a predator-proof fence was installed in the area.
The fence is meant to keep out all the birds’ predators, including cats, dogs, mongoose, rats and mice.
"The success of the fence is astonishing," said Marigold Zoll, Oahu natural area reserves manager with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, in a statement Friday. "We are beginning to see how abundant our native ecosystems can be when restored to their natural state without predators."
The hatching wedge-tailed shearwater seabird population at Kaena is now at 3,274, more than double the previous high, recorded in 2007. The moli, or Laysan albatross, has also increased in numbers at Kaena Point, with the population up by 15 percent to 400 birds.
Seabirds were nearly wiped out at Kaena Point for decades by predators and off-road vehicles driving on the sand dunes where the birds nest. Vehicles were blocked in the early 1990s and, since then, seabirds have slowly returned and attempted to nest.
But predators kept the seabird population from making a stronger comeback. The fence appears to have tackled that problem, the department said.
Kaena Point is one of only a handful of places in the main Hawaiian Islands where these birds nest. To prevent trampling seabirds, visitors must stay on the pathways and cannot bring dogs into the reserve.
$33,000 grants to allow work on fishponds
Restoration of two Hawaii island fishponds will proceed thanks to $33,000 in grants.
West Hawaii Today reports the work will be done by The Nature Conservancy and its community partner, Hui Aloha Kiholo, a stewardship group active at Kiholo Bay in South Kohala.
The money, which will be awarded in January, comes from the Hawaii Community Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Community Restoration Partnership program, and the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation.
The work on land the conservancy acquired last year at the northern end of the bay will begin with the removal of vegetation from around the ponds.
"Fishponds were a practical system," said Chad Wiggins, the organization’s Hawaii island marine coordinator. "The cultural, historical and social benefits of restoring them are tangible and understandable."
Wiggins said the long-term plan, which will require more fundraising, is to restore structures, such as rock walls, and pumping sediment from the ponds.
Since 2002, the partnership of the community foundation, the NOAA program and the Castle foundation have provided $2.2 million in funding to community organizations repairing fishponds, removing invasive species and preventing polluted runoff in coastal waters on all major Hawaiian islands.