Aquaculture. As part of an over $9 million project sponsored by Senator Inouye to develop a Center for Applied Aquaculture in Hawaii, a facility will be established at the site of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii (NELH) to provide testing, training and commercial-scale demonstration of aquaculture technology developed at research facilities on Oahu. West Hawaii provides an ideal location with abundant land, water, climate and potential entrepreneurs to put new developments into real world practice at a scale beyond the research laboratory.
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Rural Economic Transition Assistance - Hawaii (RETA H). Senator Inouye's efforts have provided approximately $16 million in grant funds over the last four years to help local entrepreneurs commercialize agriculturally-based products that satisfy military and civilian markets. The primary objective of the Rural Economic Transition Assistance-Hawaii (RETA-H) Program, relative to Hawaii, is to put displaced sugar workers back into agriculture on former sugar lands. Initial efforts have been directed at Hamakua, but have subsequently been expanded to include Oahu and Kauai--all hard hit by plantation closures. To date, 29 RETA-H funded projects are in-the-ground, with four more recently approved for funding by the RETA-H Oversight Committee. Over 10,000 acres of former plantation land have been put back into production as a result of this program, and RETA-H has directly assisted in establishing or maintaining 252 agricultural jobs. Projects funded and proposed on the Big Island include, among others, papaya, bananas, taro, beef, pork, hay, ginger, aquaculture, coffee, and agriculturally-based pharmaceuticals. Coordination and business-support assistance on the Big Island are provided by the RETA-H Oversight Committee, the Hawaii Island Economic Development Board, and the Small Business Development Center. From the federal government's perspective, RETA-H's goal is to accelerate commercialization of agriculturally-based products of interest to both the military and civilian populations. These could include but are not limited to food products, pharmaceuticals, industrial products, and personal care items. Many of the products needed and used by the military population have comparable applications in the civilian population.
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Hawaii Banana Industry Support. Senator Inouye offered strong support to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in its action against illegal import quotas and licensing agreements in the European Union (EU) that restrict market access to Europe and result in dumping of Latin American bananas in the United States. The sale of Latin American bananas in the U.S. at below the cost of production has had a significant negative impact on the Hawaii banana industry. Following an investigation into the trade practices of the EU, the USTR announced last year that the EUÕs practices were, in fact, discriminatory and violative of international trade law. The United States has thus joined with the governments of Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala and Honduras in seeking World Trade Organization (WTO) sanctions against the EU's discriminatory banana trade policy. The WTO is expected to issue its report in April 1997. Senator Inouye continues to offer support and urges the Trade Representative, Charlene Barshefsky, to take actions that will enable the Hawaii banana industry to compete with international banana producers on a level playing field.
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Family Adaptation to Occupational Loss. At Senator Inouye's request, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded $500,000 to the University of Hawaii Center on the Family to develop programs to assist families impacted by sugar plantation closures. Based on the observation that certain families have been better able to cope with the plantation closures than others, this project identifies successful coping techniques and introduces them to the families in need of assistance. While the project initially focuses on Hamakua, expansion to other areas is planned.
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APHIS Inspectors at Hawaii Airports. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that over 7.4 million outbound passengers were subjected to agricultural inspections at Hawaii airports in Fiscal Year 1996. Senator Inouye is working to ensure that the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) provides sufficient baggage inspectors at Hawaii's airports to expedite check-in for Hawaii's residents and visitors. APHIS baggage inspections are conducted pursuant to federal law which has quarantined the entire State of Hawaii to protect mainland agriculture from infestations of four species of fruit flies that exist in Hawaii. These fruit flies are not native to Hawaii, but are, in fact, agricultural pests that were introduced to Hawaii. The inspections consist primarily of running all luggage through x-ray machines, with the potential of a physical inspection of the luggage by an APHIS officer if contraband fruits, vegetables or other plant hosts for fruit flies are suspected. Since Fiscal Year 1989, the Congress has earmarked over $2.3 million at Senator Inouye's request to provide sufficient equipment and personnel in Hawaii for domestic preclearance inspections in Hawaii. He has argued that these inspections are for the benefit of U.S. mainland agriculture and that the cost of such programs should be the responsibility of the federal government and should not have detrimental effects on Hawaii's tourism business. For Fiscal Year 1997, Senator Inouye has ensured that APHIS in Hawaii will receive an additional $500,000 above its base budget for the purpose of hiring additional airport inspectors. In addition to obtaining additional funding for APHIS, Senator Inouye is also working through agency regulation or the introduction of legislation to provide adequate interline baggage inspection at neighbor island airports in order to minimize inconvenience to mainland bound passengers. Interisland air travel is essential to getting passengers to and from various destinations in the Islands and the mainland United States. Though APHIS preclearance inspection exists at some of the neighbor island airports, the APHIS only pays for inspection personnel and equipment to cover those passengers boarding direct flights from the State of Hawaii to the mainland. Thus, the APHIS pays the bill for inspections at Honolulu International Airport and for the few direct flights to the mainland departing from the Islands of Maui and Hawaii. The State of Hawaii currently pays for APHIS inspection of neighbor island passengers who are bound for connecting mainland flights out of Honolulu. Lanai only recently received APHIS inspection for connecting passengers, and Molokai has no inspection so bags must be removed in Honolulu and inspected before connecting to mainland flights.
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EPA Worker Protection Standards. Senator Inouye has supported reasonable pesticide worker protection standards by supporting practices that are safe for workers and consistent with viable production agriculture practices. All of diversified agriculture, as well as sugar and pineapple production, are affected by these standards, which are administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Senator is currently working to assure that national standards reflect the unique conditions of Hawaii agriculture. The Senator also supported extending the implementation phase of worker protection standards until the EPA provides the necessary training materials to the local agencies charged with administering the program.
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Fresh Fruit/Fruit Fly. Senator Inouye will continue ongoing efforts to urge the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop post harvest quarantine treatments to allow shipment of fresh fruits from Hawaii. At Senator Inouye's urging, the USDA recently issued post harvest fruit fly treatment regulations for avocados, papayas, lychee, starfruit and palm hearts. The Senator is currently working with the USDA to add other treatments for other crops that are potential fruit fly hosts. In addition, the Senator will continue to urge the USDA to amend its regulations to permit the shipment of untreated produce from Hawaii to northern states during the winter months. This will open significant seasonal markets with higher quality produce at lower cost since expensive quarantine treatment will not be necessary.
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Minor Crop Pesticides. After several years of work with farm interests, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), environmental interests, and with a wide range of bi-partisan support amongst his colleagues, Senator Inouye was successful in the 104th Congress in passing legislation that supports continued availability of pesticides judged to be safe, but have been removed from the market for economic rather than health or safety reasons. Re-registration costs are typically too high for manufacturers to keep certain pesticide products on the market. This usually occurs when the crop base is too small to justify re registration costs. All of Hawaii's crops fall in this category (minor crop), even sugar, pineapple and macadamia nuts. The legislation provides incentives for manufacturers to continue to register safe products for use on small crops, but will not allow registration of pesticides deemed harmful to public health and safety.
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Assisting the Hawaii Papaya Industry. $300,000 in funds requested by Senator Inouye in each of Fiscal Years 1995, 1996 and 1997 for a total of $900,000 will support continuing research on genetic engineering to develop ringspot resistance in papaya. This devastating disease has done enormous harm to the Big Island papaya industry. These funds provided by Senator Inouye have contributed to the development and field testing of a ringspot resistant papaya variety. Presently, work is underway to obtain licensure of the genetic technology used to develop this papaya variety, which will then allow for its distribution for commercial purposes. This project is closely monitored and directed by the papaya industry. In addition to addressing the ringspot issue, Senator Inouye is also working to assist the papaya industry and the relevant state and federal agriculture agencies to recover from the ringspot virus losses and to establish a quarantine strategy to revive the industry. He is working to address the industry's loss of market share to papayas imported from Mexico, and the issue of mandatory quality standards for Hawaii papaya.
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Support for Hawaii's Flower Growers. For the last several years, Senator Inouye has secured $250,000 annually from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to address the unique growing conditions and business environment of the Hawaii cut-flower and foliage industry. This money is used for applied research where members of the Hawaii cut-flower industry determine the objectives of the project. The two major objectives identified by the industry include: (1) the need for new cultivars offering cost effectiveness through disease and insect resistance and unique qualities to keep the Hawaii cut-flower industry ahead of the competition; and (2) the identification and implementation of policies to "level the playing field" with foreign competitors by identifying market opportunities and evaluating the effectiveness of promotional tools.
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Funds for Hawaii Agriculture Research Center. Though many of Hawaii's sugar plantations have ceased operations, there is a need to maintain the competitive position of the three remaining plantations and to assist the transition of dislocated workers interested in diversified agricultural alternatives. In view of these challenges, the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association, now called the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center (HARC), has appropriately redirected some of its resources to activities to support the diversification of Hawaii agriculture while maintaining its commitment to the remaining sugarcane production enterprises. At the direction of Senator Inouye, the Congress continues to appropriate $1 million annually to assist in the operations of HARC's Aiea Experiment Station.
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Health Benefits of Macadamia Nuts. At Senator Inouye's request, the Congress provided $1,275,000 over the past four years to the University of Hawaii School of Medicine to conduct research on the effects of mono-unsaturated fats in macadamia nuts on cholesterol levels. This peer reviewed scientific research has found corroborated and conclusive evidence that diets high in the mono-unsaturated fats found in macadamia nuts can lower unhealthy serum cholesterol levels. The macadamia nut industry in Hawaii is aware of this research. It is important now for the industry to optimize the commercial advantage of these positive findings by emphasizing the nutritional advantage of macadamia nuts eaten in moderation. The scientific work sponsored by Senator Inouye has great potential to assist HawaiiÕs macadamia nut farms in broadening national and international markets for this locally grown crop.
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