UH Hilo TCBES Graduate Program

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Graduate Program Natural Resource Management Seminar Series and Department of Political Science presents, "Navigating the Legislative Jungle: Stories of Success and Setbacks in Environmental Advocacy in Hawai'i" with Franny Kinslow Brewer, Manager, Big Island Invasive Species Committee on Friday, April 26 at 2 PM. The seminar will be held in-person in Wentworth 1 and streamed online via Zoom. All are welcome!

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/91645622125
Meeting ID: 916 4562 2125
Passcode: TCBES

Abstract: Legislative session in Hawai'i is a short, intense season, with lots of behind-the-scenes workings, political influences, and unexpected developments that can make getting involved in the process daunting. In this talk, BIISC program manager Franny Kinslow Brewer will share stories from the trenches, reviewing the surprising ways that legislation can fail or succeed and the challenges that still remain even after the bill becomes Law. Follow along as she traces the journey of the many invasive species bills introduced in the 2024 Session, sharing some of the wider context and the eventual fates. She will also share the nuts and bolts of how a program with limited resources like BIISC works to support advocacy for environmental legislation, and give you some tips for adding a little environmental advocacy into a busy life.

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Graduate Program Natural Resource Management Seminar Series presents, "Big Island, Big Challenges: Waste Management in the County of Hawai‘i" with Ramzi I. Mansour, Director, Department of Environmental Management, County of Hawai‘i, on Friday, April 5th at 2 PM HST. The seminar will be held in-person in Wentworth 1 and streamed online via Zoom. All are welcome!

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/91645622125
Meeting ID: 916 4562 2125
Passcode: TCBES

Abstract: Out of sight, out of mind – but what really happens when you flush a toilet or take out the trash? This discussion will dig into the costs and methodologies of managing our waste streams, address the current status of facilities such as the island’s sole landfill and the Hilo Wastewater Treatment Plant, and how the County of Hawai'i Department of Environmental Management is setting the course for this island to become a leader in environmental stewardship and creating a circular economy.

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Graduate Program Natural Resource Management Seminar Series presents, "Cultivating Civility: Strategies for a Positive Working and Learning Environment" with Jennifer Stotter, Ph.D., Interim Director of Institutional Research, UH Hilo, and Alana Ortiz, Diversity & Inclusion Specialist, Office of Equal Opportunity, UH Hilo, on Friday, February 23rd at 2 PM HST. The seminar will be held in-person in Wentworth 1 and streamed online via Zoom. All are welcome!

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/91645622125
Meeting ID: 916 4562 2125
Passcode: TCBES

Abstract: In modern learning and professional settings, fostering civility is crucial for nurturing respect, inclusion, collaboration, and productivity. This workshop offers practical strategies to promote civility in workplaces, emphasizing its role in enhancing well-being, reducing conflicts, and boosting organizational performance. Topics covered include understanding civility in learning and workplace settings, addressing hostile environments, improving communication, advancing diversity and inclusion, and cultivating empathy among team members. By empowering participants to tackle incivility and cultivate respectful environments, this workshop aims to foster professionalism and mutual respect for enhanced individual and organizational success.

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Graduate Program Natural Resource Management Seminar Series and Department of Political Science presents, "Environmental Advocacy and the Legislative Process" with Leslie Cole-Brooks, Attorney at Law on Friday, February 2nd at 2 PM. The seminar will be held in-person in Wentworth 1 and streamed online via Zoom. All are welcome!

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/91645622125
Meeting ID: 916 4562 2125
Passcode: TCBES

Abstract: The need to protect our planet through education and environmental advocacy has never been greater. We now face a daunting and sometimes overwhelming list of urgent concerns ranging from compromised air and water quality, soil degradation and the need to support sustainable agriculture, rapidly declining species diversity and the loss of native habitat, ocean acidification and the possibility of a complete collapse of the ocean’s ecosystem, deforestation and the loss of ancient forests, wide-spread desertification, groundwater depletion and disappearance, and the existential crisis of climate change to name a few. But how should advocates best use their energy and particular skills to affect the most positive change in the shortest amount of time in the face of these many complex and challenging concerns? In this seminar, attorney and environmental advocate Leslie Cole-Brooks will present a down-to-earth explanation of how environmental advocates can use legislation to enact effective and lasting change. She will start with an exploration of the various paths of environmental advocacy from criminal and civil matters to legislative action and reform. She’ll then focus on the legislative process at the Hawai‘i State Legislature. Listeners will learn how they can search for active bills currently before the Legislature, effectively research a bill’s status and history, and know how and when to respond to current legislation through written and oral testimony. Finally, she’ll discuss tools and approaches to working on environmental issues and guidelines on how concerned citizens can become successful advocates.

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Graduate Program Seminar Series and Department of Geography and Environmental Science presents, "Impacts of land-use change on tropical biodiversity and ecosystem functions" with Holger Kreft, Ph.D., Biodiversity, Macroecology & Biogeography, Faculty of Forest Sciences, University of Göttingen on Friday, January 19th at 2 PM. The seminar will be held in-person in Wentworth 1 and streamed online via Zoom. All are welcome!

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/91645622125
Meeting ID: 916 4562 2125
Passcode: TCBES

Abstract: The expansion and intensification of agriculture is currently the single most important driver of biodiversity loss worldwide and is also jeopardizing ecosystem functions that are key to human well-being. Driven by the rising global demand for agricultural commodities, current trends in deforestation and conversion for agriculture are particularly severe in the tropics, where megadiverse, natural habitats are being transformed at alarming rates into large-scale monocultures or heterogeneous landscape mosaics of largely unknown conservation value. Based on interdisciplinary research from two different biodiversity hotspots (Madagascar and Indonesia), I will first illustrate the consequences of land-use change on biodiversity and associated ecosystem functions as well as the trade-offs that commonly exist between ecological and socio-economic functions of different land uses. In the second part, I will talk about potential entry points for a sustainable land system transformation and present results from two experiments that aim at improving the sustainability of oil palm production.

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Graduate Program Research Seminar Series presents, "Coevolution and macroevolution of leafflower trees (Phyllanthaceae: Glochidion) and leafflower moths (Lepidoptera: Epicephala) in Southeastern Polynesia and the Pacific" with Dr. David Hembry, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, University of Texas Permian Basin on Monday, December 4th at 4 PM. The seminar will be held in-person in Wentworth 1 and streamed online via Zoom. All are welcome!

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/96547023084
Meeting ID: 965 4702 3084
Passcode: TCBES

Abstract: Understanding the role of biotic interactions in the generation and maintenance of biological diversity is a central goal of both evolutionary ecology and macroevolution. Brood pollination mutualisms—such as those between figs and fig wasps, or yuccas and yucca moths, in which specialized insects pollinate host plants’ flowers as adults, but consume floral tissue of the same plants as larvae—have evolved only a few times in the entire coevolutionary history of insects and angiosperms. However, these interactions offer numerous opportunities to ask questions about the evolution of mutualistic and parasitic interactions. Here, I present research on the macroevolutionary history of the association between leafflower plants (Phyllanthaceae: Glochidion) and their brood pollinating leafflower moths (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae: Epicephala). Glochidion is a genus of approximately 300 species of tropical trees, distributed from tropical Asia and Australia through the Pacific islands as far as Southeastern Polynesia (Cook Islands, French Polynesia, and the Pitcairn Islands). Specifically, I focus on the endemic radiation of Glochidion on oceanic islands in French Polynesia and the Cook Islands to show that despite extremely high species-specificity, these brood pollination interactions can be highly dynamic and labile over macroevolutionary timescales. I then examine the ways we can use species interaction network approaches to complement our understanding of these macroevolutionary dynamics in both oceanic island and continental leafflower-leafflower moth communities.

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Graduate Program Research Seminar Series presents, "Data hungry models and data ethics in the study of biodiversity on Indigenous homelands" with Dr. Andy Rominger, Assistant Professor, School of Life Sciences, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa on Monday, November 27th at 4 PM. The seminar will be held in-person in Wentworth 1 and streamed online via Zoom. All are welcome!

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/96547023084
Meeting ID: 965 4702 3084
Passcode: TCBES

Abstract: This talk will seek to interweave two themes in the study of biodiversity: how to find process in the complexity of biodiversity data, and how to find and implement best ethical practices in recognition that these data are just often extracted from unceded Indigenous homelands. We will discuss emerging modeling approaches that combine process models with machine learning, their potential for insight, and their data requirements. The data requirements are intensive, often necessitating use of open data repositories. With the rise of FAIR principles facilitating the reuse of data comes the need to also assert Indigenous and other local communities rights to and interests in data. This is the purview of the CARE principles and we will discuss their application with case studies outside of Hawaiʻi, but also investigate their potential application here. The final connection between data hungry models and data ethics is to think what models would look like if they were informed by the same decolonial positions as the CARE principles. We will provide a glimpse at this complex, full circle connection.

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Graduate Program Research Seminar Series presents, "Towards a dynamic macroecology" with Dr. Erica Newman, Research Scientist, Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin on Monday, November 20th at 4 PM. The seminar will be streamed online via Zoom. All are welcome!

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/96547023084
Meeting ID: 965 4702 3084
Passcode: TCBES

Abstract: When we search for generality across ecosystems, the patterns that remain constant tend to be the macroecological ones. The mathematical relationships that represent these patterns are often independent of any particular mechanism within any given ecosystem. Patterns like the Species Area Relationship, the Species Abundance Distribution, and body-size distributions within a community can be described by relatively simple mathematical forms. An information-entropy based macroecology, called the Maximum Entropy Theory of Ecology (METE), makes two important advances; first, it unites spatial patterns, species diversity, and metabolic distributions within a single mathematical framework; and second, it allows us to parameterize real ecosystems and the potential parameter space they occupy. With METE, we now have the opportunity to advance beyond categorizing forms of mathematical distributions that describe biodiversity patterns and move into a predictive framework where the true constraints on ecosystems and their dynamics emerge. To date, all real biological communities that have been measured fall into a fairly narrow range of available parameter space. I will discuss the parameter space of real ecosystems, the constraints that govern them, an "ecological equation of state" that emerges from the dynamic extension of METE, and implications for ecosystem dynamics at large scales.

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Graduate Program Research Seminar Series presents, "How bird song can inform conservation and management of Hawai'iʻs birds" with Patrick Hart, Professor and Chair of the UH Hilo Department of Biology on Monday, November 13th at 4 PM. The seminar will be held in-person in Wentworth 1 and streamed online via Zoom. All are welcome!

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/96547023084
Meeting ID: 965 4702 3084
Passcode: TCBES

Abstract: Hawaiian honeycreepers are well-known for their incredible variability in plumage color and bill morphology but until recently little was known about their song. In this talk we will investigate the variability and complexity of the songs of native Hawaiian forest birds through the work of past and current TCBES graduates students. We will also examine the potential impacts of population decline on bird "language" and how students and technicians in the UH Hilo LOHE lab are developing new artificial intelligence methods to estimate the population size and trends of our remaining forest birds through continuous field recordings of the soundscape.

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Graduate Program Research Seminar Series presents, "Restoration of Hawaiian Ecosystems – a personal journey" with Dr. Susan Cordell, Director and Research Ecologist, US Forest Service, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, Pacific Southwest Research Station on Monday, November 6th at 4 PM. The seminar will be held in-person in Wentworth 1 and streamed online via Zoom. All are welcome!

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/96547023084
Meeting ID: 965 4702 3084
Passcode: TCBES

Abstract: Restoring Hawaiian Ecosystems is a challenging but rewarding career choice. In this presentation I will share my journey along this path from initial interest to accomplishments with many opportunities and distractions along the way.

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Graduate Program Research Seminar Series presents, "Linking traits and resource use to understand species interactions in a novel lizard community in Hawaiʻi”, with Dr. Amber Wright, Associate Professor, School of Life Sciences, UH Mānoa. The seminar will be held in-person in Wentworth 1 and online via Zoom on Monday, October 30th at 4PM. All are welcome!

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/96547023084
Meeting ID: 965 4702 3084
Passcode: TCBES

Abstract: Linking functional traits to resource use allows for mechanistic understanding of species interactions, increasing our ability to predict community dynamics. Greater Antillean Anolis lizards are a textbook example of adaptive radiation, and functional traits associated with resource partitioning are well-established. Introductions of Anolis (green and brown anoles) and the ecologically convergent Phelsuma (gold dust day geckos) to Hawaiʻi provide an opportunity to test whether trait differences predict patterns of resource use that can explain dynamics in this novel community. We conducted a competition experiment using enclosures to control resource availability and manipulate the lizard species assemblage. We measured the following traits and resource use: head morphology and diet stable isotopes, clinging ability and perch use, preferred temperature and field temperature. Over half of the variation in multidimensional resource use space was explained by an axis varying from smooth, high perches, high 15N and low 13C at one extreme (day geckos), to low, rough perches, low 15N and high 13C at the other (brown anoles). Green anoles used the entire spectrum, and as a result, they lack competitor-free resource space when co-occurring with both brown anoles and day geckos. This is consistent with patterns of prey depletion in different microhabitats in the presence of different lizard predators, and the observation that green anoles have declined following the introduction and spread of the other two species on Oʻahu. Our results also show that the Anolis trait-performance-ecology framework generalizes to a novel player. From these relationships we can generate testable hypotheses for the mechanisms driving species interactions, and make predictions for how this community will respond to environmental change.

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Graduate Program Research Seminar Series presents, "O ke kahua ma mua, ma hope o ke kūkulu: What is Indigenous data sovereignty & knowledge stewardship?" with Dr. Rosie ʻAnolani Alegado, UH Mānoa, Associate Professor of Oceanography and the Sea Grant College Program; Director, Microbial Ecology & Evolution in Hawaiʻi Laboratory; Director, Ulana ʻIke Sea Grant Center of Excellence; & co-Director, SOEST Maile Mentoring Bridge Program Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education on Monday, October 23rd at 4 PM. The seminar will be streamed online via Zoom. All are welcome!

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/96547023084
Meeting ID: 965 4702 3084
Passcode: TCBES

Abstract: Native Hawaiian practitioners have long grappled with issues of knowledge stewardship and data sovereignty, as the rapidly growing ease of knowledge access via written and digital information has made increasingly visible the prevalence of exploitation and misuse of Hawaiian knowledge. Cultural and historical practices, language resources, and genetic information are easily digitized and patented, making formerly intangible knowledge vulnerable to commodification. Given that UH Mānoa is the only R1 research institution in the state and a major academic hub in the Asia-Pacific region, UH Mānoa holds significant influence and responsibility in shaping the data governance practices employed in research projects across these communities. However, there has been a dearth of planning or action on Indigenous data sovereignty in UH at the system-wide scale. This seminar will introduce the CARES data framework: collective benefit, authority to control, responsibility, and ethics that can be operationalized within an open/FAIR data infrastructure in order to facilitate opportunities for cross-system interdisciplinary learning and dialogue around Indigenous data sovereignty and knowledge stewardship.

Are you interested in getting a Masterʻs degree and thinking of applying to UH Hiloʻs Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science (TCBES) Program? If so, come to a session to learn more details about the TCBES program and how to put forth a competitive application. The session will include tips on writing a personal statement and resume/CV, asking for letters of recommendation, and deciding on which track may be best for you. Join us in person in Wentworth 1, at 4-5 pm on October 20, or stream in via Zoom. We will also record the session and post on our website. All are welcome!

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/92559140259
Passcode: 212071

University of Hawai'i at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Graduate Program Research Seminar Series presents, "Utilizing social psychology to enhance conservation behavior" with Franny Kinslow Brewer, Manager, Big Island Invasive Species Committee on Monday, October 16th at 4 PM. The seminar will be held in Wentworth 1 and online via Zoom. All are welcome!

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/96547023084
Meeting ID: 965 4702 3084
Passcode: TCBES

Abstract: In conservation, outreach efforts have traditionally focused on sharing information and increasing awareness of issues. However, research has demonstrated that awareness and understanding are not sufficient for engendering desired conservation-oriented behaviors. In the case of invasive species control, when specific behaviors by members of the public are necessary to reach conservation goals, using strategies based in social science can increase engagement and action. Working in collaboration with social scientists, the Big Island Invasive Species Committee (BIISC) has been testing the use of various sociological tools including community-based social marketing (CBSM) to prevent and control the spread of invasive species. In this talk, we will review some of the literature supporting the use of social science for conservation goals, as well as some of the results of BIISCʻs efforts on Hawai'i Island.

University of Hawai'i at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Graduate Program Research Seminar Series presents, "Exploring and Developing Computer Vision Algorithms for Hawai'i Island Datasets" with Dr. Travis Mandel , Associate Professor, Computer Science, University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo on Monday, October 9th at 4 PM. The seminar will be held in Wentworth 1 and online via Zoom. All are welcome!

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/96547023084
Meeting ID: 965 4702 3084
Passcode: TCBES

Abstract: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning have been in the news quite a bit recently, achieving impressive feats like having coherent conversations and generating images and videos. However, these advances have been driven by large amounts of publicly available data. In cases where visual data is scarce (such as images/videos of Hawai'i's forests and oceans), it can be challenging to build AI systems that achieve good performance at computer vision tasks. In this presentation, I will talk about some of the work my group has done recently to track multiple objects in underwater video taken by scuba divers off the coast of Hawai'i Island. I will discuss the challenges this problem presents and the new tracking algorithm we developed to overcome these challenges. I will also discuss the large-scale comparison of different tracking approaches we conducted in this setting, spanning from classic algorithms to recent Transformer-based approaches - the results are quite unexpected and interesting. Finally, I will discuss some recent work by my group comparing algorithms for identifying objects in images across various Hawai'i Island datasets, and our efforts to make AI useful to scientists even when data is scarce.

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Graduate Program Research Seminar Series presents, "How you can ethically influence people about natural resources conservation" with Scott A. Bonar, Unit Leader and Professor, USGS Arizona Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Arizona. This seminar will be streamed online via Zoom on Monday, October 2nd at 4 PM. All are welcome!

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/96547023084
Meeting ID: 965 4702 3084
Passcode: TCBES

Abstract: In natural resources management, the science may be clear on a particular topic; however, getting people to pay attention to the science and move in a particular direction is often challenging. Successful strategies for influencing people are important to make regulations effective, to develop a public conservation ethic, and to aid conservation programs. The fields of psychology and marketing have long examined how people are influenced. Here I discuss how natural resource managers and biologists can use these commonly applied marketing and psychological techniques to aid in conservation. I applied these methods to lead development of the first North American standard freshwater fish sampling protocols created by a coalition of 107 state and federal agencies, universities and NGOs across Canada, Mexico, and the United States. I also applied these methods to getting 110 aquatic scientific societies throughout the world to collaborate and sign a statement on climate change impacts they have observed on aquatic ecosystems, which was presented to world leaders and to COP 26 when I was President of the American Fisheries Society. Knowledge of these social science techniques can help you successfully and ethically complete your conservation tasks, ranging from the local to the international level.

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Graduate Program Research Seminar Series presents, "What does a Decolonial Conservation Ethics Look Like?: Rethinking the Nature of Elemental Nature" with Dr. Celia Bardwell-Jones, Professor of Philosophy and Gender and Womenʻs Studies and Chair of the Humanities, University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo on Monday, September 25th at 4 PM. The seminar will be held in Wentworth 1 and online over Zoom. All are welcome!

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/96547023084
Meeting ID: 965 4702 3084
Passcode: TCBES

Abstract: A conservation and environmental ethic is in need of reconstructing more varied accounts of nature. This talk aims to introduce alternative ways to study nature through a nuanced philosophy of nature centered on the sea. Through an understanding of the Greek concept of chora, roughly translated as "receptacle," "place," "law," "country," I argue that the sea generates a distinct philosophy of nature that resembles a return to nature, which can then inform and guide conservation and environmental ethics.

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Graduate Program Research Seminar Series presents, "Finding & keeping funding: Strategies for Graduate Students, Researchers, & NGOs", with tips and tricks for successful funding searching, writing, & reporting. Panelists include Moana Ulu Ching, with Conservation International, Corie Yanger, with Three Mountain Alliance & Shalan Crysdale, with The Nature Conservancy. This seminar will be streamed online via Zoom on Monday, September 18th at 4:00 PM. All are welcome!

https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/96547023084
Meeting ID: 965 4702 3084
Passcode: TCBES

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Natural Resource Management Seminar Series in partnership with Lā Honua presents, "Connectivity lost and found: understanding and restoring marine to terrestrial connectivity in atoll ecosystems" with Hillary Young, Professor, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California Santa Barbara on Wednesday, April 26th at 3 PM. The seminar will be held in Wentworth 1 and online over zoom. All are welcome!

Zoom link: https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/91325252628
Passcode: TCBES

Abstract: Atoll ecosystems are highly dependent on nutrients from the sea, but this connectivity is often lost due to human activity. Additionally, atolls, because of their structure of replicated islets that typically vary in size, productivity, and disturbance history, can provide a real-world model system to understand the importance of connectivity and potential for restoring connectivity across a range contexts. Here we explore the importance of connectivity within and across atolls in the Pacific, focusing particularly on the relative importance of connectivity across abiotic and human contexts on driving trophic structure. We then explore the potential for various restoration activities - rat eradication, vegetation restoration - to restore trophic structure and ecosystem functioning in these systems.

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Natural Resource Management Seminar Series in partnership with Lā Honua presents, "Mea Kanu Hawai'i: An Intro into The Universe of a Mahiʻai" with Kaʻiana Runnels, Mahiʻai Educational Specialist, The Kohala Center on Wednesday, April 19th at 3:00 PM. The seminar will be held in University Classroom Building Room 100 and online over Zoom. All are welcome!

Zoom link: https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/91325252628
Passcode: TCBES

Abstract:

"Mai hoʻomāuna i ka ʻai o huli mai auaneʻi o Hāloa e nānā"

(Do not be wasteful of food lest Hāloa turn around and stare)

A deeper dive into this ʻōlelo noʻeau (wise idiom/saying) as we collectively examine how to increase Hawaiʻi's food security guided by ʻike kūpuna/ʻike kuʻuna (ancestral/hereditary knowledge).

UH Hilo's Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Natural Resource Management Seminar Series Presents "North Pacific Eel Trap Project: Hazards to marine mammals" with Dr. Carl J. Berg, Senior Scientist, Kauai Chapter, Surfrider Foundation. Wednesday, April 12 at 3:00 PM. The seminar will be both in-person in Wentworth 1, and streamed over Zoom. All are welcome!

Abstract: Located in the central north Pacific, the Hawaiian island chain receives abandoned, lost, and derelict fishing gear from all sides of the Pacific basin, carried in the North Pacific subtropical gyre and spun off by prevailing winds and currents to Hawai'i where it is sieved by the shores. Abandoned, lost, and derelict fishing gear, given its international sea-based origin, large geographical range, and difficulties in tracing the source of gear, remains a challenging problem for this region. One of the most abundant and easily identifiable items of marine debris on Hawaiian shores are the cone-shaped trap entrances used to capture Pacific hagfish eels (Eptatretus stoutii) and black hagfish eels (E. deani) off the Pacific coast of North America, and hagfish eels (E. burgeri) and conger eels (Conger myriaster) from East Asian waters of Korea, Japan, and China. This presentation will discuss the hazards of marine debris, specifically eel traps, to marine mammals and the collaborative efforts to reduce the potential harm caused by abandoned, lost, and derelict eel traps.

Zoom link: https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/91325252628
Passcode: TCBES