MORE PARROTFISH PROTECTIONS NEEDED

I commend the Advertiser for its recent articles on the decline in reef fish populations. Having studied reef systems throughout the Pacific islands for decades, I have grave concerns about our ability to reverse the downward trend if action is not taken soon.

Of most concern in Hawaii is the decline in parrotfishes (uhu). A 2008 study of reef fish populations around the main Hawaiian islands reported that the biomass of large parrotfishes on Oahu reefs was less than 4 percent of that at more remote parts of the main islands, and that fishing was the primary reason for that difference. There are only two small areas on Oahu (Hanauma Bay and another place usually inaccessible to fishers) where there are enough large redlip parrotfish to successfully reproduce. Changes in fishing techniques, particularly the use of scuba, have left parrotfishes with little chance to replenish populations.

Parrotfishes are vital to controlling the growth of harmful algae, which overgrows the reef and leaves no habitat or feeding grounds for other fishes. Additional protection of parrotfishes must be put in place and fishing methods that result in too many fish being taken at once must be eliminated if we are going to restore Hawai'i's reefs.

Charles Birkeland | Department of Zoology,University of Hawaii

SHARK OPERATIONS

CHUMMING TO KILL IS OVERLOOKED

Did you know that right now it is legal to chum for sharks in Hawaiian waters — so long as you are doing it to kill them? With all the buzz right now to ban shark "viewing" operations in Hawaii, I'm curious why no one is talking about banning shark "killing" operations?

City Council Bill 67, which has been shelved, stated "sharks have great cultural, historical and spiritual significance for many Native Hawaiians." The bill also said that shark operators "may be disruptive of ocean ecology and the natural environment." How can the act of bringing tourists to view sharks be more disrespectful to the species than killing them? And how are snorkelers more disruptive to the "ocean ecology and the natural environment" than fisherman and the long-lining industry?

Shark fins are a huge industry in Asia and are used foremost for shark fin soup. While it is illegal to harvest shark fins in Hawaiian waters, there are still businesses operating in Hawaii selling shark fins.

Where is the respect for the aumakua in this?

In honor of the greatest aumakua, if we are to ban the "chum to view" activity, we must ban the "chum to kill" practice as well.

Bryce Groark | Big Island; owner, Living Ocean Productions

OBAMA

SELECTION SETTLES ARGUMENT ON PRIZE

The widespread reaction to the announcement that President Obama has been selected for the Nobel Peace Prize reminds me of a statement made by the Roman statesman, Cato the Elder: "I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one."

There have been many criticisms that the peace prize has been politicized and thus cheapened. Obama's selection settles the argument.

Gary Meyers | Honolulu

PRIZE REFLECTS HEALING OF RIFT

Tongues are clucking over President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize. To my mind, the award is a symbol of the dramatic about-face that Obama has created in the way the world views America. He has healed the rift that existed for the last eight years between America and its world neighbors. That is a stellar achievement.

Now, if we can only heal the rift that exists within the United States.

Creighton W. Goldsmith | Nuuanu

UH

PRESERVE HAWAII'S WINDOWS TO WORLD

If Hawaii is our home, Mänoa's departments and programs, its libraries and laboratories, its professors and graduate assistants: these are our windows. At Mänoa, students stand on the shoulders of giants, see as deeply as the accumulated achievements of our species will allow, and then see even further.

For many in Hawaii, to go to a university is to become a student at Mänoa.

My department used to have an African-American scholar, a specialist on the obligations that flow from wrongdoings between peoples. Rodney Roberts left and was not replaced. One small window in our home, boarded up.

In pulling funds from education, Hawaii appears to be abandoning equality of opportunity and betraying our children's future. We worry that the university's Board of Regents will cannibalize the very institution that they, as trustees, are obligated to protect.

This is no natural disaster. The forces that destroyed Mänoa's Gartley Hall, now boarded up as if there had been an earthquake, are the actions and inactions of politicians and their appointees. They should remember that political power comes with political responsibility; that the communities who have stakes in Hawaii's university will not sit silently as its budgets are plundered, its programs killed, its windows, our windows, Hawaii's windows, boarded up.

Kenneth Kipnis | Chair, UH-Mänoa Department of Philosophy

HEALTH CARE

FOR CANCER PATIENTS, REFORM NEEDED NOW

What's all the fuss about health care reform? Let's keep it simple. All full-time workers in Hawaii have health care, but our children and part-time workers don't. Other states do not have employer-mandated health care. Health care reform will give us options. Yes, it will cost money but it's either pay now or pay later. My first husband and sister lost their lives to this terrible disease. They both had mandated health care but my children and grandchildren on the Mainland don't.

As a volunteer for the American Cancer Society, I've seen first-hand how important it is to have health care for all that is affordable, accessible, adequate and administratively simple. Cancer patients and their families know too well the lesson that you only learn about your insurance when you are told "You have cancer." For all the cancer patients, survivors and those who will get cancer in the future, we need health care reform now.

Jennifer Hausler | Pearl City