Honolulu, Hawaiʻi – A multi-agency effort has led to the successful fumigation and removal of green waste infested with coconut rhinoceros beetles (CRB) at the Keāhole Agricultural Park (KAP). The operation involved the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture & Biosecurity (HDAB), the County of Hawaiʻi (COH), the Hawaiʻi Invasive Species Council (HISC), the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation (HDOT), the CRB Response, and the Hawaiʻi Island Invasive Species Committee (BIISC).
On July 28, 2025, a team inspected green waste piles at KAP and uncovered two breeding sites at a landscape nursery. They found 110 late-stage CRB larvae and three adult CRB. The green waste was immediately tarped for fumigation.
HDAB contracted a pest-control operator to fumigate approximately 1,500 cubic yards of green waste on August 13, 2025. From August 14, 18, and 21, HDOT and the COH Department of Environmental Management removed the fumigated material and transported it to a green waste processing facility to ensure no CRB survived. The material was not transported out of the voluntary compliance zone, which was issued by Hawaiʻi Island Mayor C. Kimo Alameda in June 2025.
As a follow-up, CRB Response staff dug through green waste piles at several nurseries on August 18, 2025, and did not find any more beetles or breeding sites. The HDAB team will continue to coordinate pesticide treatment of coconut palm crowns and deploy additional CRB detection traps in the area.
The public is asked to report suspected CRB on Hawaiʻi Island immediately to the state’s toll-free PEST HOTLINE at (808) 643-PEST (7378) or online at 643Pest.org.