WEST HAWAII TODAY (Kailua-Kona) 21 October 08 Coqui frogs growing in size, number (Jim Quirk)
Hilo: While local and state officials await permission from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on whether hydrated lime could again be used on the Big Island to kill noisy coqui frogs, the critters are becoming larger and more aggressive, a local expert says.
Mark Munekata, a former biological technician with the U.S. Department of Agriculture who is working with the Hawaii Economic Development Board on the coqui problem, said this week the frogs have started to eat honey bees and geckos, and may soon set their sights on the endangered picture-wing fly.
The flies are only found in Hawaii, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year proposed naming certain areas on all the islands as critical habitat locations where the insects could flourish.
Munekata said that perhaps the best method to eradicate the frogs in Hawaii County "before they take over" is using baking soda on them.
State officials, however, believe the best method to kill the frogs is to spray them with a mixture of water and hydrated lime.
Bob Boesch, program manager for the Pesticides Branch of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, said Monday a study conducted by the USDA's Wildlife Services earlier this year concluded that baking soda has an 89 percent success ratio for killing the frogs.
A 6 percent hydrated lime and water solution, however, has a 100 percent success ratio in killing coqui frogs, he said.
The EPA in 2005 approved an emergency exemption in Hawaii which allowed the use of a 3 percent hydrated lime solution to kill the frogs, Boesch said, but the exemption expired last April.
The EPA will grant the use of one chemical under an emergency exemption to eradicate coqui frogs, he said.
Because the baking soda only had an 89 percent success ratio, the state requested another emergency exemption on hydrated lime, but this time for a 6 percent solution, Boesch said.
"I agree the frogs are a problem, but if you allow 11 percent to survive, it's a recipe for resistance," he said, adding the EPA has yet to grant the exemption.
Karen Shiroma, director of the county's coqui eradication program, said Monday she believes the only way the island will get rid of the frogs is with a biological method.
She agreed with Munekata that the frogs are getting larger. When the frogs were first found on the island, they were generally the size of a quarter, Shiroma said.
More recently, she said she saw a frog that was the size of a dollar coin.
Munekata said county and state officials are not doing enough to combat the problem.
He sent an e-mail recently to all state senators and representatives requesting they visit the island to see just how the bad the problem has grown.
"In another 20 years, this thing is going to be everywhere eating everything," Munekata, who's been studying the coqui frog for years, said.
He said it's "not a matter of if" the frogs find their way to other parts of the island and other islands, "it's a matter of when."
The county at one time used to receive funding from the state to combat the frog. Shiroma said one year the county received a $1 million grant, and most of the money was used to pay USDA Wildlife Services to eradicate the frogs.
The funding has since dried up, and this fiscal year's program has a $300,000 budget that pays the salary of Shiroma, two crew members who spray frogs with citric acid and equipment.
Because hydrated lime is not allowed at the moment, the county can only use citric acid, Shiroma said.
Munekata said the state's elected officials need to get involved because county officials aren't doing enough. "When (Mayor) Harry Kim asked for $2 million from the state (to eradicate coqui frogs) and didn't get it, he didn't do anything else, and just rolled over like a puppy," Munekata said.
He said state senators and representatives need to start making noise in Washington and make it clear the problem is very serious so the county could obtain money for better studies and better methods to eradicate the frogs.
Coqui frogs growing in size, number