Proposals seek to end ivory sales

A grisly, recent upswing in ivory poaching has left African elephants on the verge of extinction, and in Hawaii, home to one of the largest markets for ivory in the nation, conservationists will try once more this year to pass a law banning ivory sales.

Advocates of the sales ban point to earlier research that showed many of the ivory items sold to tourists and collectors on Oahu actually originate from illegal ivory that’s made to look antique or legitimate.

The question is whether the proposed ban under House Bill 837 and Senate Bill 674 will withstand challenges from local tourist markets, antiques dealers and other shops that sell items containing ivory. A similar measure introduced last year, which would have made Hawaii among the first states to ban commercial ivory sales, died in committee.

At a hearing on the latest proposal Tuesday at the state Capitol, advocates said African elephants are now killed at a rate of about 35,000 a year for their ivory tusks, putting the giant animals at risk to go extinct within the next 20 years.

"It’s hard to even get your head around something like that," said Sara Mari­nello, executive director of government and community affairs for the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society.

The Senate bill’s number, 674, refers to the number of African elephants now estimated to be killed each week.

In an attempt to deal with the crisis, the U.S. enacted more stringent laws in 2014 banning all commercial imports of African elephant ivory into the country, regardless of how far back that ivory dates. However, state law still doesn’t ban ivory sales.

Bill proponents say that’s a loophole that should be closed as international groups work to curb ivory markets around the globe. "Nobody is going to these stores and asking for documentation" to prove that the ivory items are actually legal imports, said Inga Gibson, Hawaii senior state director for the Humane Society of the United States.

A 2008 report on the U.S. ivory market found that only 11 percent of the ivory items for sale in Hono­lulu during the report’s survey could be verified as of legal origin.

Only New York and Cali­for­nia — states much larger than Hawaii — had more ivory products for sale than Oahu.

The report, done by the Nairobi, Kenya-based group Save the Elephants, further found that the Oahu market had the nation’s highest proportion of ivory items that were "possibly" recently made, meaning those items likely violated international restrictions against trafficking new ivory.

The state measures would not ban possession of ivory, only its sale. According to the measures, anyone found unlawfully selling ivory in Hawaii would face at least a $1,000 fine for the first offense and at least a $5,000 fine for subsequent offenses.

It would also ban the sale of rhinoceros horns, as well as ivory from whales, walruses, hippopotamuses and other species that could be made to look like elephant ivory.

The measures include exemptions of sales for research or educational purposes, which backers say will ensure the changes wouldn’t affect the Bishop Museum, the Hono­lulu Museum of Art and other local institutions.

No retailers or shop owners spoke at Tuesday’s hearing. However, Hawaii island resident Linda Rosehill said the bills should give exemptions to retailers who deal strictly in Ming’s jewelry, a brand that she said was commonly found in collections across the islands.

"It’s a very specific local issue," she said of the jewelry. Without such exceptions, "I think quite frankly what you’re going to do is force an underground industry."

Kathleen Gobush, an endangered-species scientist with the Seattle-based investment company Vulcan, said if lawmakers give exemptions to certain ivory items, then traffickers will simply fashion their illicit ivory products to look like those acceptable items, Gobush said.