Report Title:

Caribbean frogs

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, many of Hawaii's flora and fauna are both rare and unique to our islands, comprising one of the most beautiful and irreplaceable natural environments in all the world; and

WHEREAS, the geographical isolation that has allowed Hawaii's ecosystem to thrive also makes for a fragile web of indigenous and endemic life, and any introduced species can easily cause irreparable harm; and

WHEREAS, animals such as rats and mongooses have reproduced at an astonishing rate due to the almost total lack of predators, and once foreign disease-spreading pests such as mosquitoes are now rampant since their introduction; and

WHEREAS, the effects of these and other organisms have been devastating to local plants and animals, especially native birds, with many populations completely wiped out in recent years; and

WHEREAS, the introduction of certain Caribbean frogs to Hawaii, namely those of the genus Eleutherodactylus, have already begun to pose a threat to native species by consuming insects and other food sources in competition with native life, while providing a greater food source for mongooses and rats, increasing their numbers and predatory threat to native birds; and

WHEREAS, these frogs also pose a threat to local businesses as their extremely loud and incessant calls can cause sleepless nights for visitors and residents alike; and

WHEREAS, the number of these frogs has not yet reached epidemic proportions, and efforts to curtail their expansion would be much cheaper and effective now, while their numbers are still relatively few; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) is requested to study and investigate local populations of frogs of the genus Eleutherodactylus, and their current and potential detrimental effects on native species; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that DLNR is requested to take appropriate actions to mitigate the harmful effects of these frogs; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that DLNR report to the Legislature on its investigation of and its efforts to mitigate the harmful effects of the frogs no later than twenty days before the convening of the Regular Session of 2002; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chair of the Board of Land and Natural Resources.