#Wolbachia

The environmental nonprofit Hawai‘i Unites has filed an appeal for their case against the State of Hawai‘i Board of Land and Natural Resources and Department of Land and Natural Resources to stop the release of mosquitoes in East Maui and require an environmental impact statement and comprehensive studies of the risks of the project.

At Haleakalā National Park yesterday, the Director of Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and conservationists involved in Birds, Not Mosquitoes, shed light on the ongoing project to save native birds on East Maui. 

A judge has granted summary judgment in favor of the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), thwarting efforts by an advocacy group to restrain the use of the Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT) to control mosquito born avian malaria on East Maui.

A hearing got underway Friday on a challenge to the state’s planned use of mosquitoes to control avian malaria that is impacting native bird populations. 

Only five of the native Hawaiian honeycreeper species, ʻakikiki, are left in the wild and chances of saving them are growing increasingly dire by the day, according to state officials. This revelation was shared by Justin Hite of the Kauaʻi Forest Bird Recovery Project during a community open house Tuesday evening. 

A sign waving rally was held Saturday in Kahului, asking the state to complete a full Environmental Impact Statement for their planned “Mosquito Control Research Using Wolbachia-based Incompatible Insect Technique” project.

At a meeting on June 9, the state Plant and Animal Advisory Committee will consider taking steps to further a collective plan to introduce mosquito birth control to try to save four native bird species from extinction in Hawai’i.