Letters 4-11-12

Fish farm permit

The public comments incorporated will be monitored by us

The Department of Health approved the NPDES permit for the Hawaii Oceanic Technology Inc. fish farm proposed for the Kohala Coast without allowing for a public hearing that the majority of the commenters had asked for in the public comment period.

I have read the Department of Health document and would like to commend it for tightening the parameters on the NPDES permit, in response to the comments that were made.

At first glance, it seemed that the public had no input since we did not get our community meeting. But in hindsight, perhaps the input during the comment period made a far larger contribution.

The EPA’s maximum allowable concentrations for various parameters are very, very low, and it essentially specifies that Hawaii Oceanic Technology Inc. cannot add anything to the ocean water outside of its zone of mixing (leased area for the farm) or it will be in violation.

The Department of Health then added more stringent requirements in response to our comments: mercury testing; priority pollutant analysis every time the pens or spheres are cleaned (this requires analysis of 126 different pollutants); annual priority pollutant scan; whole effluent toxicity testing if antibiotics are used; testing of fish feed for pollutants; monitoring for metals; total organic carbon and sulfides plus more stringent net pen cleaning best monitoring practices. All of these parameters for analysis are because there is a “reasonable potential to exceed water quality standards.”

Unfortunately, the sampling cannot be monitored by the regulatory authorities.

The West Hawaii community is not happy with the prospect of a factory fish farm along our beautiful coastline, and they will be watching.

The Department of Health ended its permit approval letter with the following “if you become aware of any potential water quality violations, please contact Department of Health.” Believe me, we will.

Wendy Minor

Waimea