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WEST HAWAII TODAY | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2011
OPINION
 CARS:
LETTERS | YOUR VOICE
‘The industry can do anything it
wants if it puts its mind to it’
DESCRIPTIONS INACCURATE
Sharks need our help
Shark populations are
in danger worldwide.
Some reasons for this
are irresponsible fishing
practices and people’s
perceptions and attitudes
about sharks. Jim Rizzuto’s
article “Sharks Should Keep
You In The Boat” in the
Feb. 14 West Hawaii Today
perpetuates the myth that
sharks are evil.
“Reign of terror,” “great
white killing leap,” “toothy
scavenger,” “toothy giant,”
“huge killer,” “monster,”
“fearsome” and my personal
favorite — “the one shark
that can never get enough
mammal meat,” really Jim?
These phrases could fill
a ’70s novel, but they do
not accurately describe the
risk of enjoying a swim
in Hawaii’s beautiful blue
water.
Mr. Rizzuto should know
that, statistically, fishing
is more dangerous than
swimming, snorkeling
or diving. If he wants to
stay in the boat, that’s his
prerogative. But to try
to scare his readers into
missing out on a safe,
pleasant and rewarding
activity is like saying, “if you
go to Alaska, don’t get out of
the car.”
We’ve been swimming
in Hawaii for more than
40 years and have swum
with many species of
sharks, including oceanic
white-tips, tigers and great
whites, and have never been
threatened by any of them.
Unfortunately, though,
shark encounters are
becoming increasingly rare.
For every person killed by
a shark, millions of sharks
are killed by humans and
the ocean needs sharks.
Hawaii’s recent law to ban
shark finning is a great step
toward protecting these
magnificent animals from
extinction. Other states and
countries are copying it. The
last thing sharks need is a
respected authority like Jim
Rizzuto talking stink about
them.
Read the paper (the
factual stories), and
you’ll get a feel for which
activities in Hawaii are truly
dangerous: driving a car
or crossing the street top
the list. But unless you’re a
hooked fish, struggling for
your life, you’re pretty safe
in the water.
Jeff and Teri Leicher
Jack’s Diving Locker
Kailua-Kona
FISH COLLECTING
Vested interests,
conflicts in DLNR
Judith Perino is vested in
the aquarium trade yet she
profiles Kona Division of
Aquatic Resources scientist
Brent Carman as “truly
shocking” for speaking
against the trade.
A poll recently asked
if the aquarium trade
7A
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6A
should be banned in Kona.
About 250 favored a ban
with 10 opposed. Do you
think those 10 voted on
morality or money? Brent
Carman assessed the trade
as destructive, so the trade
calls him uninformed. The
nominated Department of
Land and Natural Resources
director, William Aila, is
an aquarium collector who
shrugs off his aquarium
habit, saying that he hasn’t
collected in years. So why
does he keep his aquarium
permit active?
While the aquarium trade
touts Aila as “informed,”
a problem arises for Gov.
Abercrombie in defending
the aquarium trade. Aila
submitted testimony
opposing Senate Bill 580 to
ban the trade. Most Hawaii
voters — and Abercrombie
supporters — want the trade
banned. But did Aila brief
the administration?
Gov. Abercrombie is
a seasoned veteran with
proven conservation
credentials. Did he change
his stripes? I doubt it. I
think Neil may be the real
uninformed person, kept in
the dark while an appointee
prioritizes commercial
interests.
Meanwhile, collector
William Aila gets his
data freshly spun by
Kona Division of Aquatic
Resources — that’s what
Brent Carman stood up to.
Kona Division of Aquatic
Resources Director Bill
Walsh is the aquarium
trade’s most ardent defender
— just as Alec Guinness
defended the Bridge on the
River Kwai until he came to
his senses: “Oh, God, what
have I done?” Sir Alec fell on
the plunger and blew up the
bridge. Swirling dust and
— roll credits.
What is Bill Walsh
defending? His job. But
his disservice to Hawaii
reefs at taxpayer expense
is supporting what most
Hawaii residents want to
stop.
The U.S. Coral Reef
Task Force calls aquarium
collecting “a major threat to
reef health.” Others call it a
threat to Hawaii’s economic
engine, reef-based tourism,
and I do, too.
I encourage Bill Walsh
to find a new movie and
Judith Perino to ponder job
relocation.
Robert Wintner
Kailua-Kona
BAG BAN
Non-users perspective
I am vacationing here
from Alberta ,Canada, and
thought I would comment
on the “going bagless” issue.
On Sept. 1, our city, Fort
McMurray, went bagless
(cold turkey).City council
had discussed the topic
during the summer and
(as the Nike commercial
says ) “just did it.” After five
months everyone is used
to it.
At first you forget your
reusable bag or bags at
home. Then you keep them
in your vehicle and forget
to bring them into the store
with you. Then, when you
unload them into the house,
you forget to put them back
into the vehicle and you
don’t realize it until you
have arrived at the store on
your next shopping visit.
You should change out the
bags or wash them every so
often to prevent salmonella
from occurring. Walmart
here in Fort McMurray
sells them for 50 cents
and Safeway has a nice
rectangular one for $1. And
Costco was wondering what
all the fuss was about.
Mr. and Mrs. resident,
sometimes we have to step
up to the plate to commit
to a cleaner planet and
I believe that this would
be a good step in the
right direction for your
community.
Dale Weiss
Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada
have been joined by 13
other states, among them
New York, Connecticut,
Pennsylvania and
Washington.
Now, automakers are
demanding that politicians
— not scientists — write
the clean car standards
intended to reduce carbondioxide pollution.
The automakers
supported a 5 percent
annual reduction in
emissions that will get us
to 35.5 mpg in 2016 — the
biggest step we’ve taken
against global warming.
They say they cannot cut
emissions 6 percent the
next year.
These are the same
people who said they could
not equip cars with seat
belts, air bags or catalytic
converters.
But, using continuously
variable transmissions,
low-friction lubricants,
improved engines,
aerodynamic designs,
high-strength light-weight
steel and producing the
first electric vehicles, they
can deliver a fleet that will
achieve 62 mpg, cut our
emissions by 6 percent per
year and help us cut our
oil consumption in half by
2030, saving us money at
the pump.
Sure, they don’t want to.
But they can.
If you don’t believe us,
listen to Toyota.
Whatever goal the
administration sets,
“Toyota will be prepared
to meet,” the automaker’s
vice president for product
communications, Jim
Colon, said. “If it’s 62 miles
a gallon, we’ll be able to
achieve that.”
Even General Motors,
famously late to the
innovation starting line,
says it will join the race
— if ordered. Mark Reuss,
the company’s top North
American executive, said
that while he was concerned
about meeting a 62 mpg
standard, “I think the
industry can do anything it
wants when it puts its mind
to it. ... We’re going to make
a plan that’s profitable with
cars and trucks that people
want.”
That would be a welcome
epiphany for a company
that stayed afloat with the
help of a $50 billion bailout
from America’s taxpayers.
With the planet growing
warmer, gas prices climbing
and new turmoil in the
Middle East threatening
our energy security, we can’t
afford to allow polluters
to team up with the new
House leadership to deny us
progress.
As Mark Twain said,
“Denial ain’t just a river in
Egypt.”
Dan Becker is director of the
Safe Climate Campaign, which
advocates strong action to
fight global warming. James
Gerstenzang is the campaign’s
editorial director. They wrote this
for McClatchy-Tribune.
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opinion
west hawaii today | Sunday, february 27, 2011
Letters | Your Voice
 egypt:
To build its democracy we must
rebuild our credibility
Aircraft noise
Address the real issues
C-17s? Let’s get our
priorities straight.
I have read the letters
about the pros and cons
of C-17 flights at Kona
International Airport and
they have all missed more
important concerns than
the noise factor. The fact is,
if this country is going to
maintain a large military so
we can intervene in other
countries (which we seem
to do with great regularity),
training is very necessary to
be able to do so.
We should be more
concerned about flight
safety and pollution than
quibbling about the noise.
By the way, being for or
against these flights does
not make one pro- or antimilitary and that discourse
has detracted from serious
discussion of the issue.
Flight safety should be
the primary concern for all
of us, the Air Force thought
it was a major concern
several years ago, when it
promised to build a short
takeoff and landing runway
adjacent to the existing
runway to accommodate the
three to five weekly flights
the C-17s would be making.
Since then the flights have
become almost daily and
fighter aircraft have been
training here on occasion.
The sub hunters have
started doing their training
here, as well, for full days
at a time. During the
intervening years no short
takeoff and landing runway
has materialized. This could
lead one to the conclusion
that the Air Force no longer
cares about flight safety.
The next concern should
be over adding to the
pollution levels in this
area. We already have Pele
fouling our air, the Keahole
power plant and about a
10-fold increase in both
automobile and air traffic
over the last 27 years. I have
no knowledge how much
pollution is generated by the
increased military use here,
but guess in the course of a
year it is substantial.
Noise is an unfortunate
7A
continued from page 6a
byproduct of operating an
airport, so live with it. Yes,
C-17s are louder than most
other aircraft and only the
older 747 is equal the C17s. However, those aircraft
make one landing and one
take off per visit. They do
not start before 6 a.m. and
continue to after 10 p.m.
almost daily. I reside 5 miles
above the airport and know
without looking that one of
these two types of aircraft
is on the move. But let’s get
focused here and address
the much more important
issues of flight safety and
pollution before crying
about noise levels.
Keith King
Kailua-Kona
Fish collecting
Spinning science
The head of Kona
Division of Aquatic
Resources has spun
the science to favor the
aquarium trade for a
long time now. The 2010
report to the Legislature,
mentioned in “Comments
concerning” a Feb. 18 WHT
letter to the editor, is full
of spin and omissions. It
focuses upon the relative
fish increase in the notake areas but omits the
data and discussion on
&RPSDVVLRQDWH3URIHVVLRQDO
Lala Lee
the perpetually declining
yellow tangs in the open
areas hit by the collectors.
That data shows open areas
with drastically lower fish
counts than protected areas
— fewer fish by almost 30
percent in 2000, 55 percent
in 2004 and averaging 73
percent since 2007.
At 73 percent decline,
Kona Division of Aquatic
Resources finally admitted
in late 2010 that the yellow
tang take is unsustainable.
But what stopped Bill Walsh
et al. from sharing this
information in 2007, 2008,
2009 or the 2010 report to
the Legislature?
Brent Carman and Linda
Preskitt are both familiar
with the data. They stepped
outside the spin with
testimony supporting a
ban on the aquarium trade.
They represented their
opinions with bias-free
scientific observation and
experience — and they are
to be commended for their
courage and honesty in
doing so.
Meanwhile, a recent
study shows that West
Hawaii collector’s average
100 fish per dive hour. At
$4 per yellow tang, $100
per endemic bandit angel
and $80 per Tinker’s
butterflyfish, it should be
clear to all what’s driving
this argument.
Rene Umberger
FortheFishes.org
Kihei, Maui
Letters policy
Letters to the editor
should be 300 words or
less and will be edited for
style and grammar. Longer
viewpoint guest columns
may not exceed 800 words.
E-mail or address letters to:
Editor
West Hawaii Today
PO Box 789
Kailua-Kona HI 96745
E-mail: wht@aloha.net
It is possible that the
Brotherhood may
choose not to take part
in whatever U.S. party
training programs we offer.
(These are likely to focus
on party organization,
campaign methods and
other basics.) But then
again they might, and
that would not be so bad.
The National Democratic
Institute, operating with
U.S. government funds, has
been an active, effective
supporter of political party
development in numerous
Arab countries for the past
10 years. It has frequently
included Islamist parties
in its activities, such as
the Islamic Action Front
in Jordan, the Party for
Justice and Development
in Morocco, and Islah in
Yemen. That inclusion has
not hurt U.S. interests and
has led to many fruitful
dialogues between Arab
political Islamists and
Americans.
While carrying out
research in Indonesia in
2004, I was struck to learn
that the International
Republican Institute was
including in its multiparty
training programs the
Prosperous Justice Party
(PKS), a conservative
Islamist party known at
the time for organizing
fiery anti-American
demonstrations outside the
U.S. Embassy there. Neither
the IRI representative
in Jakarta, with whom I
spoke, nor PKS officials
expressed concern about
this relationship.
I asked the vice president
of the PKS why his party
was working with a U.S.
government-funded
organization affiliated with
the Republican Party, at a
time when a Republicanled U.S. government
was being denounced by
Muslims around the world
for the invasion of Iraq.
He expressed admiration
both for U.S. Republicans’
political skills and the
fairmindedness with which
they approached Indonesia’s
political scene.
It is good that the U.S.
government has woken up
after decades of support for
dictatorship in Egypt and is
ready to stand on the side
of democracy. We should be
acutely aware, however, that
unlike Central and Eastern
Europe in 1989, local
political actors in the Arab
world harbor enormous and
often bitter skepticism of
our democratic bona fides.
Our pro-autocracy record
in the region is well-known,
and our new stance is still
taking shape: Shortly after
President Obama said his
government stands ready to
assist Egypt in its pursuit
of democracy, Joint Chiefs
of Staff Chairman Mike
Mullen visited the Gulf
to “reassure” America’s
autocratic allies there of
continued U.S. friendship.
If we want to help
democracy take root in
Egypt, our “job,” to use
Berman’s term, is first to
begin building our own
credibility.
Proceeding on the basis of
democratic principles such
as openness and inclusion
rather than political
favoritism and exclusion
would be a good way to
start.
Thomas Carothers is vice president
for studies at the Carnegie
Endowment for International
Peace.
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