Bird boom worries Kona airport

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Staff Writer

When Hawaiian stilts began showing up at Cyanotech Corp. near Kona International Airport five years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommended creating an artificial habitat to keep the endangered birds away from the company's aquaculture ponds and to prevent chicks from drowning in the pools.

That's what Cyanotech did, creating an award-winning wetland habitat that has been wildly successful in adding stilts to the Kona Coast population.

A little too successful, if you ask the people who run the Kona airport.

The state Airports Division has opposed the bird sanctuary since it was created about a half-mile from the Kona airport, citing a potential for hazard to air traffic. The Federal Aviation Administration says wildlife strikes cost more than $300 million annually in the United States.

Kona airport officials have remained concerned as they've watched the Hawaiian stilt population grow in the area. In 1998 three adult stilts were found dead on the runway. Just a couple of weeks ago, the concern was renewed after nests were discovered next to the runway.

Although the nests were removed immediately, airport officials continue to lodge complaints, said Shelley Paik of the state Department of Transportation.

But James Kwon, Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, said his agency believes the airport's stilt problem has lessened since the 1.7-acre waterbird habitat was created. It's farther away from the runway than Cyanotech's aquaculture ponds, which the birds were attracted to, he said.

A 2001 study of wildlife concerns at Hawai'i airports said the risk of bird strikes at Kona International was low, Kwon said.

Nevertheless, he said, the concerns of airport officials were acknowledged in March when the permit issued to Cyanotech was modified from a 10-year project to one that will likely end in one or two years, depending on hatching success rates.

After that, the company plans to chase the birds away and use other measures to keep the stilts from the aquaculture ponds.

Cyanotech President and CEO Gerald Cysewski said he's proud of his company's work with the endangered waterbirds. It's an effort for which the company received the Hawai'i Audubon Society's Corporate Conservation Award last year.

The stilts started showing up in 1997 after the company, which manufactures natural health food products, expanded from 10 acres to 90 acres, laying out some 60 acres of "raceway" aquaculture ponds for increased microalgae production.

That's when the company turned to the Fish and Wildlife Service, which suggested working with the water fowl conservation organization Ducks Unlimited Inc. to create a conservation plan. Together, they made an artificial habitat to which the stilts have flocked.

"It's a pretty happy spot for the stilts," Kwon said.

The company manages water levels precisely and adds waste algae to make the insects plump and plentiful for the birds. A couple of company scientists are assigned to the sanctuary, one on a full-time basis.

Cysewski said he's been told more stilts fledge at Cyanotech than anywhere in the state.

"We feel like we're making a real contribution, and we take pride in what we're doing," he said.

According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Kona Coast stilt population swelled from about 105 in 1998 to more than 220 in 2001, thanks largely to Cyanotech. Now, the Kona Coast population represents more than 10 percent of the Hawaiian stilts found state-wide.

And, according to Ducks Unlimited, many of the birds have dispersed to other islands.

Cysewski said he doesn't see much risk to the airport, because no planes cross the artificial habitat. But he said he understands the airport's concerns and is willing to dismantle the habitat after the permit ends. He said measures will be taken to discourage the birds from foraging and nesting at the work site in the future.

Kwon said wildlife officials are hoping to create new habitats in the Kona area. He said the stilts are opportunistic birds that can adapt to new homes.

"That's how they found Cyanotech in the first place,'' he said.