Hawaii advisory committee urges emergency interim rule to bar movement of CRB host materials to Mokai

The State of Hawaii Advisory Committee on Plant and Animals voted Sept. 17 to recommend that the Board of Agriculture find existing regulations insufficient to prevent introduction of the coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB) to the island of Mokai and to forward the petitioner's interim-rule language (Appendix D) for consideration with a suggested severability clause.

The committee's recommendation follows a presentation by Jonathan Ho, plant quarantine branch manager, who briefed members on CRB detections in the state and the scope of the petition. Ho said CRB has been present in Hawaii since 2013, with established breeding populations on Kauai and West Hawaii and detections on Maui and Lanai, and that the petition seeks to prohibit inter-island movement to Mokai of potted or bare-root plants, soil, gravel, mulch, plant propagation media and certain landscaping materials. "CRB has been in the state since 2013," Ho told the committee, and the petition "proposes the banning or prohibition of inner island movement of potted or bare rooted plants, soil, gravel CRB host materials," while listing narrow exemptions such as seeds, cut flowers and rock or coral not mixed with organic material.

Why it matters: testifiers—many…