643pest.org and port monitoring highlighted after spike in CRB reports; Kona detection triggered interagency rapid response

Hawaii Invasive Species Council staff showcased two new dashboards for 643pest.org and outlined how online pest reports are verified and routed — an approach staff say helps close the loop between community reporters and response agencies.

Elizabeth Spieth, HISC support staff who helps manage the 643pest.org hotline, explained that every online report is reviewed by a person who follows up with reporters for better photos, location details and specialist consultation when needed. “The majority of reports…are actually going to be resolved directly with the community by providing that identification of what they found as well as vetted management resources,” she said, adding that half of the roughly 1,500 verified reports in the past fiscal year were community-resolved while about one-third were forwarded to agencies for action.

Spieth and other presenters demonstrated a new species-insights dashboard that visualizes 20 years of verified reporting and noted that coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB) became the top reported species in recent years. Spieth said CRB reports on Oʻahu rose over 6,700% between 2020 and 2023 as public awareness increased.

Mason Russo, HISC’s research and projects coordinator, described the Port of Entry Monitoring program and its role in detecting pests that can bypass regulatory inspections. He said traps and monitoring helped detect the first CRB in Kona on March 3; that detection prompted perimeter delimitation, expanded trapping, voluntary stop-movement orders (initially signed June 27 and extended later), and an interagency response involving HISC, DOA, DOT, DOH, county partners and invasive‑species committees. Russo provided operational numbers — more than 2,600 trees treated last year and hundreds of traps deployed — and described the central challenge of green-waste management: mulch or unmanaged green piles can harbor CRB larvae unless processed at temperatures that kill the pest.

Lawmakers asked whether stop-movement actions require Department of Agriculture authority; presenters clarified that regulatory stop-movement or interim rules would come from the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity and that county capacity, green-waste processing infrastructure and enforcement remain key constraints.