New regulations to limit the spread of coconut rhinoceros beetles on Hawai‘i Island will take effect next month.
The state Board of Agriculture and Biosecurity in March approved a proposed interim rule that will limit the movement of plant matter — which can harbor coconut rhinoceros beetles or their larvae — into and out of West Hawai‘i, where the invasive beetles were detected for the first time in 2023.
The invasive pest, first detected in the state in 2013, has since been detected on every island save for Molokai. Beetle infestations are devastating to coconut trees, as they feed on the trees’ palm heart, damaging or killing them.
Residents on Molokai last year urged the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity to implement restrictions for all potential beetle host material entering the entire island.
Two Big Island nonprofits, the Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund and Pōhaku Pelemaka, proposed in January a similar temporary solution for Hawai‘i Island, to wide support from residents.
Jodie Rosam, plant program manager with Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund, told Aloha State Daily that the Big Island quarantine is modeled after the Molokai proposal, albeit on a smaller scale. Instead of the entire island, the rule only affects a designated “infested zone” on the island stretching from Waikoloa Village in the north to La‘aloa to the south, more than 20 miles.
“We didn’t want something so difficult that nothing would happen,” Rosam said, explaining that enacting a quarantine for the entire island would be unfeasible.
The infested zone has been subject to a voluntary compliance order imposed by the County of Hawai‘i since last June. Rosam said that order was intended to only last for three months before being replaced by official state rules, but three months was extended to six, and then to nine, and the order is now scheduled to expire at the end of April, whereupon it will be replaced by the new official quarantine.
That compliance order advises people within the area to not transport plant material — including mulch, compost, woodchips, and most live palm plants — out of the zone, and to properly inspect and treat potential CRB host materials in a timely fashion.
The upcoming new rule will do much the same thing. Under the current terms of the proposed rule, nobody would be permitted to transport any potential CRB host material from the infested zone to anywhere else within the state, unless authorized to do so by a DAB permit.
But, unlike the voluntary order, violating the new rule will have penalties: violators would be charged with a misdemeanor offense and be fined anywhere between $100 and $10,000 for a first offense. For a second offense committed within five years of the first, the violator would be fined between $500 and $25,000.
Rosam said DAB’s Plant Quarantine Branch will carry out the enforcement of the new rule. Meanwhile, the Big Island Invasive Species Committee will train businesses within the infested zone on best practices for inspecting, storing, treating, processing and otherwise handling potential CRB host material.
For the time being, the new rule is still considered an interim rule to expire after a year. However, Rosam said she hopes the state will continue to renew the rule after a year or set a permanent rule as long as CRB remains a threat to the island.
Current data from BIISC indicates that 322 adult beetles and another 295 larvae have been detected on the Big Island, with the greatest concentration of the insects found on the leeward side.
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