Expansion of the Papahanau- mokuakea Marine National Monument will ensure that our small-boat commercial, sustenance and charter fishermen continue to catch the fish so important in our community.

Conservation areas give fish refuge and a chance to repopulate, where females grow older and larger, producing geometrically more eggs. Science has confirmed that protected fish populations spill over into adjacent waters, increasing the quantity of fish available to fishermen.

Expanding the monument would mean our fishermen would have access to more fish.

The Hawaii longline fleet hooks only a tiny percentage of its catch in the proposed expansion area. Because it fishes under a quota, it can move and catch just as many fish.

Pono fishermen recognize that their predecessors understood that kapu ensured productive fisheries.

Creating an expanded pu‘uhonua (refuge) in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, would honor that heritage of pono fishing, and assure good catches for future generations.

Rick Gaffney

Kailua-Kona

Consider saving Pro Bowl funds

The University of Hawaii athletics administrators are like wolves at the door of the hen house — in this case the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s door — in search of all or part of the $5.15 million earmarked for the Pro Bowl.

This extortion money should be returned to the governor and placed either in the rainy day fund or the general fund. Why does it have to be spent just for the sake of spending it?

I know it is hard for bureaucrats to save money, but they should show some restraint. The Pro Bowl has become a joke as a sporting event and we here in Hawaii should be glad to see it sail off into the sunset.

At one time it was a great event and was great for our state, but that time has passed. Should the NFL ever seek to return, HTA should demand that it pay Hawaii $5.15 million to stage its party here.

Gregory A Poole

Mililani

LNG could be used to fuel vehicles

I write in support of bringing liquefied natural gas to Hawaii in quantities large enough to be used as a motor fuel. LNG is cheap.

Vehicles burning it don’t produce soot, nor do they smell bad. Carnival Corp. and Matson are building ships that burn it. Mainland trucks are burning LNG, and there are fueling stations being built. Why not let HawaiiGas and Hawaiian Electric build the terminals and bring it in? Initially HECO and industrial customers could burn it.

As renewables come online, the Legislature could institute a carbon tax to encourage conversion. At the same time, the use of LNG as a motor fuel would rise as fleets convert.

It will be a very long time, if ever, before all the cars and ships run on renewables. It will be hard enough to convert the grid.

Dan Murray

Waikiki

NextEra hearings are closed for good

The editorial, “NextEra still has way to go to acquire HEI,” leaves a lot to be desired (Star- Advertiser, Our View, May 22).

The first sentence includes the phrase, “Hawaiian Electric Industries, the state’s dominant power utility.”

HEI is a holding company that owns a bank and a utility.

The editorial goes on to state that NextEra produced “a long list of ‘binding commitments,’” when in fact many continue existing practices, and others are conditional commitments.

The editorial states that Next-Era “will need to be locked in with strict conditions.”

Some marriage proposals should be rejected.

The editorial concludes, “The PUC still awaits a more forceful signal from NextEra that it’s the company that can get that done.”

That is not true. The record is closed. The state Public Utilities Commission must issue a ruling based on the record. Adding new commitments at this point would result in a travesty to the administrative process.

Henry Curtis

Executive director, Life of the Land

Charge for carry-on, not checked bag

I have a suggestion on the long lines at the airport. Airlines should make the first checked bag free and charge $25 for a carry-on. The airlines would still get their pound of flesh and the overhead bins would be less full.

Lori Komer

Kaimuki

New P.I. president should free Arroyo

The newly elected president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has made many controversial statements, but he is definitely correct in questioning the continued imprisonment without trial of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Arroyo has been charged with plunder and election fraud, two crimes for which bail is not allowed. She has been confined in a hospital room since 2011.

The current president, Benigno Aquino III, has conducted a vendetta against his predecessor without regard for the right to a speedy trial.

She has been imprisoned for five years without a chance to defend herself in court, much less a guilty verdict.

Both cases against Arroyo appear weak, which probably explains why there has been no trial. Why bother, when she can be held indefinitely without a conviction? This is an outrage.

Duterte has offered to pardon Arroyo but she declined because it would require her to plead guilty.

Once in office Duterte should go farther and quash the flimsy charges against her.

Carl H. Zimmerman

Salt Lake