HILO — All seven of the Big Island’s representatives in the state House are co-sponsoring a bill that would bolster efforts to combat invasive little fire ants.
House Bill 1607 establishes a pilot program allowing Hawaii County residents with documented infestations of the ant to receive a coupon for a free one-year supply of the appropriate pesticide treatment. It also calls for the state Department of Agriculture to create a map detailing infestation sites.
“The fire ant has been on our island since the late 1990s … it’s a problem that’s just been growing because we’re not getting any help,” Rep. Richard Onishi (D- Hilo, Keaau, Kurtistown, Volcano) said Tuesday.
Onishi introduced a similar bill last year that passed the House but got held up in the Senate.
The little fire ant is considered one of the worst invasive species in Hawaii, and is distinct from the tropical fire ant, which is a larger species that nests exclusively on the ground (little fire ants also nest in trees).
Native to Central and South America, it is thought to have been introduced to the Big Island via a commercial potted palm nursery. Uncertainty about how it first got here led to a slow initial response, which allowed the opportunistic ant to begin spreading across the island.
The House bill attempts to address the disproportionate impact the ant has had in Hawaii County as compared to other islands.
“On the Big Island, it’s really bad,” said Kiyoshi Adachi, a research associate with the Hilo-based Hawaii Ant Lab. The lab hosts ant management clinics once a month and is currently working on education efforts in Naalehu and Waipio Valley. It has taken over treatment efforts at the Hilo airport.
“We also go up to Kauai and Maui — we’re trying to get rid of infestations there,” Adachi said.
The lab has had good results on Kauai and Maui, he said: “We caught it early.”
The lab is primarily funded by the DOA and the Hawaii Invasive Species Council, with additional grants coming from federal sources.
The bill does not yet include an amount to be appropriated for the coupon program and site mapping. That will ultimately be determined by the Finance Committee, Onishi said. He expects the cost to be approximately $200,000.
Puna Rep. Joy San Buenaventura said the coupons would be a boon to low-income residents who could not otherwise afford little fire ant treatment.
“The more people who have access to the pesticide necessary to control it, the higher the likelihood of eliminating (the ant),” she said.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
