Ni'ihau residents are being told by state health officials that they can once again fish and gather other seafood from their shoreline waters for the first time since thousands of dead fish washed up on their beaches over a two-week period in January.

But the co-owners of the private island, as well as its residents, are still unhappy that neither state nor federal agencies have been able to give them more definitive answers about the "fish kill" that took place for about 10 days in mid-January.

They suspect that the death of the fish is related to the dropping of rat bait on the nearby bird sanctuary island of Lehua earlier that month. State and federal officials, however, said tests have shown no evidence of that although they are unclear about what caused the fish to die.

About 100 people live on what many call "the Forbidden Island," which is owned by the Robinson family. Ni'ihau residents depend on the ocean to provide a majority of their food.

"Our ocean is our icebox," said Ilei Beneamina, a part-time resident and Kaua'i Community College assistant professor.

But dead fish began washing ashore toward the end of January and, in early February, the state Department of Health warned against eating seafood in the waters off Ni'ihau, said Bruce Robinson, one of the island's co-owners.

Janice Okubo, Health Department spokeswoman, yesterday told The Advertiser the agency is no longer recommending that Ni'ihau residents refrain from eating seafood from the island's waters.

Robinson, contacted by The Advertiser, said neither he nor Ni'ihau residents had been told the recommendation had been lifted. "OK, great!" he said.

DIPHACINONE A SUSPECT

The Robinsons and Beneamina believe the helicopter dropping of diphacinone on Jan. 6 and 13 in Lehua by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on behalf of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources has something to do with the death of the fish.

"We want somebody to be held accountable for what they did over there that shut down Ni'ihau's food supply," said Beneamina, whose children and grandchildren live on the island full time.

Beneamina said adding to the woes of Ni'ihau residents were large waves and stormy weather that made it difficult for the Robinsons' barge to transport provisions since January.

The Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs felt the situation was so critical that they put out a call to its membership to help with donations of food and checks.

But Robinson yesterday stressed that no such emergency existed.

Bad weather prevented the barge from landing for about two months but "we took supplies by helicopter," Robinson said. Meanwhile, Ni'ihau residents are eating beef and other meat raised on the island's ranch. "They're not hungry," he said.

But like Beneamina, Robinson said he believes something happened to the sea life as a result of the rat bait droppings.

Scientists from several state and federal agencies said they have found no evidence.

"We did not receive any definitive results from our lab tests," Okubo said, adding that "part of the difficulty we had was that the samples we had were not fresh enough. The samples had deteriorated."

The incidents happened at the end of January but DOH officials weren't notified until early February, she said.

The U.S. Geological Survey Biological Resources Division dissected the carcass of a triggerfish and discovered "severe swelling and inflammation of the gills" and "bacteria in the brain with no inflammation."

However, the report was inconclusive on what actually killed the fish.

MORE TESTS NEEDED

Meanwhile, two officials with DOH's Laboratories Division examined three fish from two classes of pesticides — organo phosphate and organo chlorinated — and found no evidence of either.

The two classes are what's typically used to screen other food products, said Wanda Chang, chief of the Environmental Health Analytical Services Branch.

Don Heacock, a Kaua'i-based aquatic biologist with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, said he thinks it's unlikely the rat bait killed the fish based on the data presented and subsequent monitoring of the rodenticide on the island, especially since there had been little rain there. Most of the dead fish were found off the southeastern section of Ni'ihau while Lehua is to the northwest. The fact that most of the dead were either humuhumu, or triggerfish, and nenue, or rudderfish, but not other fish is also odd, he said.

Heacock said, however, he does not blame Ni'ihau residents for their suspicion and added that he believes broader tests should be done to look for other toxins. "Then we can say we've done everything we can," he said.

Robinson, who said he saw fish throughout the island, added that he believes the toxins may be untraceable because it has now gone through second and third generations of organisms.