Officers bust repeat offender in laynet violations
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources says enforcement officers detained and cited two men, one for the second time in the past year, for using a lay net in a Windward Oahu stream to catch aholehole.
DLNR identified the men as Orlando Maiava, 45, of Hauula, and Clayton Espanto, 45, of Kailua.
The department says enforcement officers on routine patrol spotted the two men on Thursday tending the net on Kawa Stream, makai of the Kahana Bridge. The officers confiscated the men’s equipment and an estimated 200 pounds of aholehole that were entangled in the net and brought to shore.
The officers cited Maiava and Espanto for possessing or using a lay net that has not been registered with the department, possessing or using a multi-panel lay net, using a lay net that is not marked by surface buoys as specified or provided by the department and using a lay net in a freshwater stream or stream mouth, all in violation of state administrative rules.
The citations direct the men to appear in Kaneohe District Court to answer to the alleged violations. No date is set.
Enforcement officers cited Maiava on Mar. 31 last year in the same area for possessing a throw net with a mesh of less than two inches and for damaging coral when retrieving a lay net. Maiava pleaded no contest to the throw net violation last month in a plea deal. In exchange, the state dropped the lay net violation.
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Kaneohe Environmental Court Judge Florence Nakakuni fined Maiava $100 and ordered him to pay $30 into a state fund for crime victims. Maiava is scheduled to return to court Wednesday to satisfy the judgment.