Invasive Beetles Are Overrunning Oʻahu. Could New Methods Offer Relief?

The agriculture department has been focusing on coconut rhinoceros beetles on other Hawaiian islands, leaving Oʻahu largely to fend for itself.

Kimeona Kane drives his pickup truck around his neighborhood on the Windward side of Oʻahu pointing out dead and dying palm trees along the road. Nearby, the copious piles of mulch and rotting wood littering lots and private properties host the culprit: coconut rhinoceros beetles.

Kane has been trying to get a handle on the infestation for the past four years as chair of the Waimānalo Neighborhood Board, but he said his calls to the state’s reporting hotline, 643-PEST, went nowhere.

“I think at this point for Oʻahu, everyone’s kind of on their own,” he said.

As the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity focuses on stopping the spread of coco