Don't Mess With Mother Nature!

Poisoned prawns produce pricey penalty

A record price for a prawn may have been set in Hawaii, after the state fined a man $100 for every one he allegedly killed by pouring ant poison into a stream. An estimated 6,250 Tahitian prawns died, the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources said in a release.

Which means that 54-year-old Hilo resident Wayne Keaulana Spatz must pay a whopping $633,840, after the state tacks on additional penalties for the overtime paid to staff while collecting evidence against him, officials said. 

The fine is the the largest assessed against someone for violating the state’s aquatic resource laws, Hawaii officials said.  “Over the past week, we’ve received additional reports of individuals using pesticides or chemicals used in pesticides to poison streams for the sole purpose of collecting prawns to sell for human consumption,” wildlife department Chair Suzanne Case said in a release. “It is illegal, despicable, and morally indefensible and anyone caught will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

The state said it received an anonymous tip that Spatz had been seen pouring ant poison into Paheehee Stream in North Hilo.  Soil and dead marine life samples “tested positive for bifenthrin, which is an active ingredient used in insect repellent,” officials said.  “The illegal and unethical use of these pesticides in streams have shown to cause extremely damaging and long-lasting effects to all aquatic stream animals, native and non-native,” the state said.

“These pesticides are highly toxic to all aquatic animals and result in extensive recovery time, particularly for native and endemic stream life. Typically, non-native and invasive species are the first to repopulate these impacted streams. Therefore, these types of activities can severely alter the natural biological conditions and overall health of the stream ecosystem.”