Experts Battling to Save Coconut Palms in Hawaii pg.5
“The University of Hawaii started research on Kauai in the late ’80s,” Visintainer reports. “Hurricane Iniki hit Kauai in 1992 and destroyed the research plot. Nothing was done to control the disease in the environment until I took over the project in the late ’90s. I was managing a tropical plantation on Maui. I planted lots of coconut palms on properties and noticed that some were dying. I was concerned about it, so I talked to the University of Hawaii, the Department of Agriculture and other pathogen specialists.” Visintainer invited experts from around the world to Maui to assist in establishing research plots. They experimented with different formulas to combat the pathogen.
Visintainer has been on the board of directors of the Maui Farm Bureau for about six years. As part of the board of directors, he advocated a bill in the Hawaii State Leg-islature in 2000, to extend research on coconut heart rot. The bill was passed and $10,000 was appropriated for the project. Visintainer realized that research on Phytophthora would be stymied if he didn’t wage an all-out war against the pathogen.
Making a commitment
“I stopped working at the plantation and started a company called Hawaii Coconut Protectors,” Visintainer says. “We’ve been airing a video on public television on all the islands, outlining the spread of coco nut heart rot and what we are doing to combat it. Our approach is to educate the public about the pathogen. We meet with people in the tree and landscape industry in conjunction with the University of Hawaii. We conduct research. We offered an injection program statewide that protects coconut palms from the pathogen. Other than that, we’re promoting eradication. In the next few years, we want to implement an eradication program through a federal government grant. We haven’t applied for a grant yet, because it’s not a good time to be asking for money.”
