Most of us who grew up here in Hawai‘i have at some point used waiawï. I remember eating it off the tree in my grandma’s yard. Picking the rotting fruit from the ground and pelting my friends with it (hoping it would burst on contact and leave the seeds on their clothes). We have now learned that it is an invasive species and are looking at ways of controlling it.
What do you think of this current plan to bring in another alien species to control it? Read the article below from the Hawai’i Tribune-Herald for more information.
by Nancy Cook Lauer
Stephens Honolulu Bureau
Agency set to endorse strawberry guava control plan, even though some Native Hawaiians oppose it
HONOLULU — The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is set to endorse a plan to release alien insects on the Big Island to control strawberry guava, even as it acknowledges that some Native Hawaiians are in opposition.
OHA’s Joint Committee on Beneficiary Advocacy and Empowerment unanimously approved the plan Wednesday. The full board is expected to give final approval Thursday.
“This is something that needs to be done. It’s a major problem,” said Robert Lindsey Jr., OHA trustee representing Hawaii County. “We’ve got major invasive species issues we’ve got to deal with on the Big Island.”
The U.S. Forest Service has applied for a permit to release a Brazilian scale insect, Tectococcus ovatus, to control strawberry guava, also known as waiawi, beginning with the Olaa Forest Reserve on the Big Island, then moving statewide. The insect has been tested at the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park quarantine facility for six years, and observations in Brazil have been ongoing since 1993.
Scientists say the aphid-like insect spreads slowly and will keep the guava from fruiting and spreading, not eliminate it.
But public opposition remains. The Big Island Kanaka Council voted to oppose the release of the insect, and hearings earlier this year in Hilo did little to calm nerves. Opponents worry that the scale insect could go the way of the mongoose, becoming more of a problem than the pest it is imported to control.
The Hawaii Conservation Alliance had asked OHA to get on board to help defray fears, especially around OHA land holdings in Wao Kele o Puna and Waimea Valley. Public hearings will be scheduled on the Big Island sometime in the near future, said Forest Service Research Entomologist Tracy Johnson, who is working to complete a required environmental assessment prior to release of the insect.
“The hunting community on Hawaii Island … there have been objections, certainly the strawberry guava is a food source for pigs,” said OHA Land Management Director Jonathan Likeke Scheuer. “Hunting, because of conservation efforts, has been restricted on Hawaii Island over the last couple of decades, and so folks in the hunting community, even though hunting opportunities have actually remained quite abundant, have felt threatened by various conservation efforts that are going to impact their ability to go hunt. That’s been one source of resistance to this.”
Waiawi is also supported by many of Portuguese ancestry who value the fruit to make jelly and woodworkers who consider it a useful hardwood.
However, it is extremely invasive and detrimental to the native forests, scientists say. It crowds out native species, harbors fruit flies that cost agriculture millions in eradication efforts and creates muddy footprints that interfere with the natural water recharge of the forest floor.
E-mail Nancy Cook Lauer at nclauer@stephensmedia.com.