Ocean
Watch
Monday, July 1, 1996
Hawaii's largest estuary is down
but far from out
Last month, when a pipeline broke in Pearl Harbor,
spilling bunker fuel all over the place, most of the comments I heard fell
into one of three categories:
It's easy to blame oil companies for fossil-fuel
pollution problems. They're big, faceless corporations that everyone loves
to hate.
But before cursing Chevron for this recent accident in
Pearl Harbor, consider the fact that the offending pipeline was feeding
the Waiau power plant, one of three on Oahu providing us with electricity.
Each of us uses the product of this pipeline. And no matter how scrupulous
the safeguards, accidents happen.
And what about Pearl Harbor itself? Is it already a
lost cause?
No. Despite its association with World War II
devastation, the Navy and runoff pollution, Pearl Harbor remains alive and
kicking. The place may not be pristine, but it has still got plenty of
wildlife to root for.
Take fish. Pearl Harbor is home to significant numbers
of:
Baitfish such as nehu (anchovies) and goldspotted
herring also thrive in Pearl Harbor. Fishing boats with special permits
regularly enter the estuary to catch these baitfish, important in the aku
pole-and-line industry.
Invertebrates flourish in this harbor too. Opae (native
shrimp) need this place where fresh and salt water mix. Like the stream
gobies, opae life cycles are the reverse of salmon. Both gobies and shrimp
spend their adult lives in fresh water, then migrate to salty areas to
spawn. Pearl Harbor offers one of the few places left on Oahu where these
animals can reproduce.
Pearl Harbor got its name from its abundant pearl
oysters, which became scarce at the turn of the century from
overharvesting and muddy agricultural runoff. Now oysters, clams and
mussels have come back.
Harvesting Pearl Harbor shellfish, however, is strictly
prohibited by the state Department of Health. Even in the best of
circumstances, these filter-feeding bivalves can contain lethal bacteria
and chemicals from fertilizers and pesticides.
And even though Pearl Harbor itself is doing well, it
still receives the damaging results of a lot of human activity from up the
valley.
Samoan and bluepincer crabs can be found in good
numbers in Pearl Harbor these days. Because the Department of Heath no
longer has the money to monitor these crabs' meat, eat them at your own
risk.
Crabs are scavengers and will eat just about anything
they come across, including the tissue of dead oysters and clams.
Wjp cares if all these shellfish are thriving if we
can't eat them? The endangered waterbirds who live in the wetland refuges
there are sensitive to the health of the estuary.
Pearl Harbor houses one of the few wetland nesting
areas left on Oahu for native stilts, coots, moorhens and ducks.
Fortunately, the recent oil spill caused no direct
wildlife deaths in the harbor.
It did, however, coat the shoreline and intertidal area
around Ford Island and the Waipio Peninsula.
The first phase of the oil spill cleanup is ending.
Workers are now making restoration plans and setting up systems for
monitoring long-term impacts on fish, shellfish and other wildlife.
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii's largest estuary, certainly is
well worth the effort.
