Chapter 11 — Species of Special Concern 



describing legal requirements governing the disposal 

 of plastics and other garbage at sea. The materials 

 would be provided to fishermen during meetings on 

 various fishery issues, including the need to retain 

 lightsticks for disposal back in port. The letter also 

 advised that a preliminary assessment of the chemicals 

 in lightsticks indicated that they are non-toxic and that 

 the matter was being further investigated by contacting 

 the manufacturer. 



Late in 1991, there was a significant decline in the 

 number of lightsticks found on French Frigate Shoals 

 by Fish and Wildlife Service personnel. In the past, 

 however, peak occurrence on the beaches has been in 

 late winter when fishing vessels were closest to the 

 Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Thus, it is not yet 

 clear whether the decline resulted from a reduction in 

 the number of lightsticks being lost or discarded or 

 from the seasonal location of fishing operations. 



Tern Island Cleanup and Seawall Repair 



Tern Island is a strategically vital facility for 

 protecting Hawaiian monk seals, seabirds, and sea 

 turtles. Located 500 miles west-northwest of Honolu- 

 lu, it is the only permanently occupied field station in 

 the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, which 

 includes a number of small islands extending nearly 

 1 ,000 miles from Nihoa Island to Midway. 



The island is little more than a 3,000-foot runway 

 built by the Navy on an 1 1-acre island in 1942. Navy 

 construction expanded the island to 37 acres, most of 

 which was sand and coral backfill behind a sheet- 

 metal bulkhead. In 1952, the Coast Guard took over 

 the island to establish a LORAN navigation station. 

 In 1979, the Coast Guard station was closed and the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service began using the facilities as 

 a full-time field station. 



As in previous years, the importance of the field 

 station and its facilities was illustrated again in 1991 

 when Fish and Wildlife Service personnel documented 

 evidence of commercial fishery-related injuries to 

 monk seals and albatross and alerted fishery manag- 

 ers. Field station personnel also documented the 

 occurrence of and problems associated with light- 

 sticks, helped monitor the status of seal and other 



wildlife populations, assisted in airlifting emaciated 

 seal pups to rehabilitation facilities for subsequent 

 restoration of other island colonies, and freed monk 

 seals and sea turties that might otherwise have died 

 from debris and entrapment in the island's deteriorat- 

 ing seawall. 



Tern Island, however, is also a source of serious 

 problems and faces an uncertain future. When 

 constructing the runway, the Navy installed 20 under- 

 ground fuel tanks. When the Navy withdrew from the 

 island, many of the tanks were left full or partially 

 full. With age, the tanks began leaching their hazard- 

 ous contents into island subsoil. Large amounts of 

 cable and other debris capable of entrapping wildlife 

 also were buried when the runway was built or left on 

 an adjacent island. When the Coast Guard abandoned 

 the island, it left behind generators and electrical 

 equipment containing highly toxic polychlorinated 

 biphenyls (PCBs). Complicating these problems, the 

 protective seawall has deteriorated to a point where 

 complete structural failure and massive erosion are 

 imminent. 



In the late 1980s, the Fish and Wildlife Service 

 considered abandoning the field station as a cost- 

 cutting measure. The Commission, as well as Con- 

 gress and others, urged the Service not to do so. 

 After further analysis and with special Congressional 

 appropriations for the Hawaiian Islands Refuge, the 

 Service agreed. Since then, the Commission, the 

 Service, the Navy, the Corps of Engineers, and the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service have worked 

 closely to organize efforts to clean up the island and 

 repair its seawall. In 1991, involved agency officials 

 reviewed progress and coordination needs during the 

 Commission's 25-27 April annual meeting in Belle- 

 vue, Washington, and during a 5-6 November Hawai- 

 ian monk seal program review in La Jolla, California. 



As part of initial efforts, the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service and the Corps of Engineers signed an agree- 

 ment late in 1990 for an engineering study to identify 

 alternative approaches for restoring the seawall. In 

 1991, the two agencies also reached an agreement for 

 immediate action to proceed with cleanup efforts. 

 Using funds available under the Defense Environmen- 

 tal Restoration Act, which establishes an account to 



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