Hawaii
Millions of Altered Mosquitoes Could Save Hawaii's Birds
Ten million mosquitoes have been released over the Hawaiian island of Maui at a rate of 250,000 per week. Believe it or not, this isn’t an effort to deter tourists, but rather one to save endangered birds. Many Hawaiian honeycreepers are disappearing due to avian malaria, a disease transmitted by invasive Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes that arrived in the 1800s. With no immunity, “native birds often die after a single mosquito bite,” NPR reports. Some species have found refuge in the island’s high-altitude forests, above 4,000 to 5,000 feet in elevation, where it was previously too cold for mosquitoes. But rising temperatures mean the insects are now advancing into these areas. The idea is to release modified mosquitoes that will help suppress the overall population.
The nonbiting male mosquitoes have been modified with a different strain of gut bacteria than is found naturally in Maui’s female mosquitoes. If a female, who mates only once, chooses a mate with a different strain of bacteria than hers, their eggs won’t hatch, meaning the overall mosquito population should shrink. The incompatible insect technique (IIT) has proven successful elsewhere. On two islands in China, IIT cut dengue-carrying mosquito populations by 90%, per Scientific American. The Birds, Not Mosquitoes coalition—made up of the National Park Service, the state of Hawaii, and nonprofits including the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project—hopes to see a drop in the mosquito population after the summer.
That should translate to better outcomes for honeycreepers, which are culturally significant and vital to the ecosystem, per the Nature Conservancy. Only 17 of 50 species remain in the wild, and some are expected to go extinct in the wild as early as this year. Inside the mosquito-screened buildings of the Maui Bird Conservation Center, officials are trying to save what are now some of the rarest birds in the world, representing the very last of their species, including the ‘alala. Through breeding programs, they hope to welcome chicks that can later be released into the wild. It’s all rather challenging. But “the only thing more tragic than these things going extinct would be them going extinct and we didn’t try to stop it,” Chris Warren, forest bird program coordinator at Maui’s Haleakala National Park, tells NPR. (More endangered species stories.)
Tourism executive and former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann resigned as chair of the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority Thursday after questions were raised over possible inappropriate use of HTA resources by two nonprofits he leads.
Hannemann told the board shortly before noon that “the best thing for me to do is to step down as chair, and then I will have to think whether I want to stay on the board, because the reputations of those incredible, important organizations have been put into question.”
The HTA board then elected boad member Todd Apo as its new chair.
HTA board members on Tuesday questioned Hannemann at length about the Hawaiʻi Lodging and Tourism Association’s public safety conference at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center on Dec. 6, 2023, and a meeting of the Pacific Century Fellows at the convention center on May 15 of last year.
Hannemann is president and CEO of the Hawaiʻi Lodging and Tourism Association, which advocates for the hotel and tourism industries. He is also founder of the Pacific Century Fellows program, a nonprofit leadership training organization.
Jimmy Tokioka, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, has said the ethics commission has begun interviewing people as part of an inquiry into more than $14,000 in food and beverages provided for the two events. Tokioka is also an HTA board member.
Tokioka said in an interview that HTA documents show HLTA and Pacific Century were supposed to pay for breakfasts served at those events that cost more than $14,000, but there was no record of payment.
Hannemann announced his resignation after the board discussed those gatherings for the second time this week. He suggested the HTA board should instead be focusing on Hawaiʻi’s visitor industry.
“People watching from everywhere will say, ‘Can’t those guys get on with the business of tourism?’” Hannemann said. “‘Can’t they get on with the business of making sure there’s funding? Can’t they get on with the business of making sure that the staff that works there is appreciated?’”
It’s the second major shakeup in HTA leadership in a week.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported March 20 that HTA had appointed Caroline Anderson its new interim president and CEO following the resignation of interim top leader Daniel Naho’opi’i, who had been in the role for a year and a half.
“Naho’opi’i, who ends his tenure Friday at HTA, had been the agency’s 11th top leader since the state Legislature created the HTA in 1998,” according to the article.
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We have no idea what Martin Scorsese’s next film will be, but at least there’s some movement with one of his percolating projects in development.
Disney/20th Century has acquired the rights to Scorese’s upcoming Hawaii-set crime epic starring Dwayne Johnson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Emily Blunt. Still no word on when this one will start production.
The thumbnail description (via Deadline):
Imagine Robert De Niro’s Goodfellas’ Jimmy the Gent character, but as a ruthless Hawaiian crime boss, also based on a real figure, who battled encroaching rivals for control of organized crime in Hawaii.
For a moment there, it did look as though Scorsese’s ‘Irishman’ backer Netflix had the edge in acquiring the Hawaii-set project, some of the other higher bidders included Amazon and Apple, with Warner Bros. With $200M above-the-line expenses on this movie, it does look like 20th Century is ready to take the hit.
Set in the ‘60s and ‘70s, Scorsese’s film is said to follow an aspiring mob boss (Johnson) who fights rival crime factions for control of the underworld of the Hawaiian islands. Scorsese has hired Vanity Fair journalist, and doc filmmaker, Nick Bilton to write the screenplay.
Last we checked, the script hadn’t been completed yet, and DiCaprio is going to be busy this summer shooting Damien Chazelle’s next film. He then has promo to do on Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” in September. Scorsese can still, technically, shoot one of his other percolating projects this year, but definitely not “Devil in the White City” or “Sinatra” which are both supposed to star DiCaprio.
So, with the knowledge of DiCaprio’s busy schedule, which will include Chazelle’s film and promotion of Paul Thomas Anderson’s fall-tipped “One Battle After Another,” what’s Scorsese’s next film going to be? I’m still banking on the smaller-scaled Marillyne Robinson adaptation “Home” to shoot sometime this year.
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