Little fire ants land at Punahou Carnival as invasive pest quarantine rules finally move forward

by Wayne Tanaka, Chapter Director | Reading time: 5 minutes

For many plant enthusiasts, the annual Punahou School Carnival provides a once-in-a-year opportunity to grow their collection, and their gardens, with bargain deals on native, food, and ornamental plants and trees, all while supporting financial aid for the private school’s less affluent students.  

This year, however, Carnival-goers and the broader community were shocked to hear that the plant tent was shuttered on its opening day: invasive little fire ants (LFA) had been found in plants donated by island nurseries for the event.  

Thankfully, the conscientious and diligent effort by Carnival organizers to test these plants prior to sale prevented what might have been the further distribution and spread of this devastating pest to even more regions across Oʻahu. The close call underscored the critical importance of filling the gaps in our islands’ biosecurity infrastructure, including by the passage of proposed intra- and inter-island quarantine rules for infested plants and other commodities – rules that that have languished for a year since they were approved for public hearing.

Fortunately, widespread community outcry in the Fall of 2023 finally forced the Department of Agriculture to schedule a public hearing for these amendments to Hawaiʻi Administrative Rules Chapter 4-72, which was held on January 30, 2024. Many members of the public heeded the call to show up virtually and in-person, and maintain the pressure on the Department to pass these rules before LFA, coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB), hala scale, and other pests gain even greater footholds across our islands.

Testifiers at the January DOA meeting.

Numerous testimonies underscored the community efforts that have been ongoing for months and years to fight back against these invasive species, only to be confounded by a lack of regulation on the commercial sale and distribution of infested products. 

As several testifiers noted, the Department of Agriculture, despite being aware of at least five “bad actor” nurseries knowingly selling LFA-infested plants on Oʻahu, had inexplicably failed to use its statutory authority to regulate such behavior. With the stakes at an all time high, given the agricultural, environmental, cultural, public health, economic, and quality of life impacts these particular pests may have on our islands, they implored Department officials to use their authority to join the rest of the community in the fight to stop the LFA, while the brief window for eradication still remain open.

A former CRB Response Team member recounted her frustration and sadness when she was unable to stop certain recalcitrant business owners from selling CRB-infested mulch to their customers, due to a lack of any regulatory prohibitions. Her months of frontline work educating and enlisting the help of communities across Oʻahu would ultimately be in vain, as the island has now all but conceded to the permanent establishment of the CRB, with limited resources currently being focused on stopping its spread to other islands.

Kumu from Waiʻanae also pleaded for action, sharing their heartbreak over the dying CRB-infested coconut trees all along the West Oʻahu coastline – and the resulting loss of connection to ʻāina that they sought to foster among their students.

A farmer stewarding multiple farms on the island also testified to the larger agricultural and cultural impacts of the CRB and LFA, noting that the former not only attacked coconuts and native palms, but was also now consuming other food crops such as kalo and ‘uala.

Sierra Club of Hawai‘i Executive Director Wayne Tanaka shared the results of an informal survey of local nurseries on Kaua‘i, Maui, and O‘ahu, where 11 out of 12 respondents expressed support for quarantine regulations - a direct contradiction of the claim by the Department of Agriculture Chairperson that the nursery industry objected to such provisions, in her prior refusal to allow a public hearing to take place.

In the night’s closing testimony, Senator Jarrett Keohokālole, whose Windward Oʻahu district has been fighting tooth and nail to eradicate LFA from their neighborhoods and prevent the ant’s spread to other parts of the island, did not hold back. Citing the concept of “regulatory capture,” where government regulators prioritize special interests over the interests of the public they are responsible for protecting, he called out the Department for its lack of action as well as for its inconsistent claims. He listed a series of excuses that Department officials had made to explain their prior inaction on the proposed rules – such as the need for “legal review” by the Attorney General when such review had been long completed. Most concerning was the Department Chair’s express deference to the nursery industry, and the Department’s written claim that the rules would have to be watered down and delayed for a further year since the nursery “industry” allegedly objected to its quarantine provisions as a “dealbreaker.“ The Senator apparently voiced what many other attendees had been thinking, as applause broke out at the conclusion of his remarks.

After the public hearing, a recommendation by the Small Business Regulatory Review Board, a vote by the Board of Agriculture, and the Governor’s signature are all the steps that remain before these rules are finally promulgated into law. Whether and how the Department of Agriculture now drives this process forward remains to be seen, although with growing attention and pressure by community members, organizations, and now legislators, it will be hard-pressed to finally move in a more timely manner. 

Much gratitude is owed to all who have taken up this all-hands-on-deck fight to secure our islands from invasive pests that could permanently alter life as we know it here in Hawai‘i. Please stay tuned for additional developments in the Department of Agriculture rule amendment campaign, as this process (hopefully) moves forward.

In the meantime, be sure to sign up for action alerts on invasive species legislation that could use your voice, via our CapitolWatch email list here. 

Also, please continue helping to spread the word about the current fight against invasive pests including the LFA on O‘ahu and Kaua‘i, and the CRB on Maui and Hawai‘i Island. While regulatory mechanisms and timely agency action are both critical in the fight against invasive species, government simply cannot succeed in this work alone.  Accordingly, be sure to talk to your friends and neighbors about the myriad ways that invasive pests can impact our daily lives, and reach out to organizations such as CGAPS, the Hawai‘i Invasive Species Council, your island’s invasive species committee, and groups such as StopTheAnt.org, for information and resources on what we all can and must do, to identify, detect, and eradicate invasive species in our islands and communities.