We are not requesting anymore donations for the Reward fund, pending outcome of the trial, slated for October 14, 2009.
"Trial set in death of monk seal
Honolulu Advertiser, August 12, 2009
78-year-old man pleads not guilty in the fatal shooting on Kauai beach
A 78-year-old man accused of shooting to death an endangered Hawaiian monk seal on Kaua’i in May pleaded not guilty to the charge yesterday in U.S. District Court.
Charles Vidinha of Kaua’i was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond after entering his plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie Kobayashi. Vidinha’s trial was set for Oct. 14. [...]
Vidinha is charged with shooting a pregnant monk seal May 21 at Pila’a Beach, a remote beach on Kaua’i’s north shore. The seal, known as RK-06, was the mother of five pups, federal officials said."

For the text of the actual indictment Click Here

If anyone has information concerning any harassment of Monk seals please call NMFS Law Enforcement: 1-800-853-1964.

The Kaua'i Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation opposes genetically modified plants (GMOs) growing in the open air on the island of Kaua'i for the following reasons:

1. Growing these plants are experimental. These plants have genes that are designed to insert traits in plants that may be harmful to other plants and animals including humans. Growing these plants is a huge open air experiment with our island as the guinea pigs.
2. There is no need for this technology except for the sponsoring companies to sell more of their chemicals.
3. These plants contaminate local organic agriculture and can harm business.

The Chapter supports organic agriculture because, except for manure, it is ocean friendly.

This spring, the Surfrider Foundation is rolling out a new educational campaign called Rise Above Plastics. Its mission:

"To reduce the impacts of plastics in the marine environment by raising awareness about the dangers of plastic pollution and by advocating for a reduction of single-use plastics and the recycling of all plastics."

For more information on Rise Above Plastics, Click Here

Top Ten Reasons to Avoid Bottled Water

Americans drank 8.8 billion gallons of bottled water in 2007, up more than 7% from 2006.. Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing—producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy.

1.) * It takes approximately three 8oz bottles of water to make one disposable plastic bottle…so that we can get 8oz of hydration.

2.) * Approximately 1.5 million barrels of oil—enough to run 100,000 cars for a whole year—are used to make plastic water bottles, while transporting these bottles burns even more oil. Imagine a water bottle filled a quarter of the way up with oil. That’s about how much oil was needed to produce and transport the bottle.
3.) * 40 billion plastic bottles plastic bottles end up in landfills each year, costing cities as much as 70 million in cleanup costs annually. Is this really how we want to spend our tax dollars?
4.) * In 2006, the equivalent of 2 billion half-liter bottles of water were shipped to U.S. ports, releasing thousands of tons of global warming pollution and other air pollution.
5.) * The bottled water industry spends millions of dollars a year to convince us that their product is somehow safer or healthier than tap water, when in fact that's just not true.
6.) * Disposable bottled water has far less rigorous testing requirements than city tap water for bacteria and chemical contaminants. There are no requirements for bottled water to be disinfected or tested for parasites such as cryptosporidium or giardia.
7.) * 3 out of 4 Americans drink bottled water. 1 in 5 will only drink bottled water, (although it’s far less regulated than tap water) and in blind taste tests across the county, 2/3rds of people couldn’t even tell the difference.
8.) * The irony here, of course, is that about 40% of bottled water is actually tap water, which is typically free and is much better regulated and more rigorously tested than bottled water.
9.) * In the US, bottled water corporations such as Nestle are draining billions of gallons of water from rural communities around the country, limited or depleting well water available to the citizens who live there.
10.) * Unfortunately, only about 15% of plastic bottles are recycled. The rest are sent to landfills. Or, even worse, they end up as trash on the land and in rivers, lakes, and the ocean.
Bonus * Plastic debris in the environment can take between 400 and 1,000 years to degrade.