KAHULUI, Maui — Hawaii Superferry vehicle screeners continue to intercept 'opihi, lobsters, dead bees, fishing nets and muddy trucks at ports in Honolulu and Maui.

State officials say the number of restricted items uncovered by screeners has grown with the increase in passengers aboard the new interisland ferry, which reported record bookings in May.

Although the contraband found by screeners violates state-imposed ferry operating rules, in most cases there were no violations of state conservation or agricultural laws.

In fact, only five citations were issued from April 11 to June 9 for violations, which included possession of undersized 'opihi and uhu (parrotfish), and possession of ogo with reproductive nodes or with "holdfast," which connects the seaweed to the seafloor, according to conservation and enforcement officers with the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Randy Awo, the agency's conservation and resource enforcement chief on Maui, said it is likely that some of the seafood seized from ferry passengers at the Maui port would have been harvested anyway and legally transported on interisland flights.

Superferry screeners also are monitored by the Department of Agriculture, which supplies a single inspector for each sailing from Honolulu and Maui.

Domingo Cravalho Jr., Compliance Section chief at the Agriculture Department's Plant Quarantine Branch, reported that during May, 2,738 pounds of produce and 472 instances of cut foliage were carried by the ferry, most of it from Maui to Honolulu.

Another 124 plants were rejected because they did not have proper agricultural certification, he said.

DEAD BUGS ON CARS

Screeners removed 53 bugs from engine compartments, grilles or elsewhere in vehicles. That number includes 41 desiccated bees, none with the dreaded varroa mite that threatens the state's multimillion-dollar honey, queen bee and pollination industry.

Passengers also used the ferry to transport 112 cats and dogs, Cravalho said.

The latest data on Superferry screenings was presented to the Hawai'i Inter-Island Large Capacity Ferry Vessel Oversight Task Force at its meeting Friday on Maui. The task force was established under a law known as Act 2 that allows the Superferry to operate while an environmental study is conducted.

The same kind of detailed data is not available for the Honolulu port because DLNR provides conservation and enforcement officers to monitor screenings only on a periodic basis.

One reason for the staffing imbalance is that nearly 50 percent of ferry passengers are O'ahu residents, while fewer than a quarter live on Maui, according to a passenger survey by consulting firm Belt Collins, which is studying ferry operations for the state. That means there are more people traveling to Maui to fish, camp, gather and hunt.

On Maui, a minimum of two DLNR officers are present to assist with screenings at each ferry departure.

Sara Peck, Big Island representative on the task force, was among those who raised concerns that Honolulu screenings of Maui-bound vehicles are not as thorough as those at Kahului Harbor, where there is a greater presence of conservation and resource enforcement officers.

ASSESSING SCREENING

Peck and other task force members sailed to Maui on the ferry for the meeting and had a chance to witness screenings in Honolulu. She said she observed that screeners didn't always check the trunk compartments or open doors to look inside vehicles.

Jeffrey Parker of the Kahului Harbor Coalition, a group that has been pushing for stricter environmental rules for the ferry, said he found it " worrisome" that vehicles leaving from Honolulu didn't appear to get the same scrutiny as those departing Maui.

He said DLNR officers at Kahului Harbor do "a great job" of assisting screeners and that he is afraid the supervision will cease once environmental studies are completed.

Awo said the Maui inspections are effective because of his agency's close working relationship with Superferry staff on Maui. He said his officers meet monthly with ferry officials to review procedures and potential issues.

After the meeting, Terry O'Halloran, director of business development for Hawaii Superferry, told The Advertiser the screening training and protocols are identical at the Honolulu and Maui sites and that the company is "happy" with the "great job" the screeners are doing.

The task force also discussed the need to clarify some of the rules for transporting marine resources. It was suggested that people fishing for recreation be allowed to transport a small amount of their catch aboard the ferry, and that rules be loosened to acknowledge that departing passengers often are given gifts of fresh fish, 'opihi and other restricted items by people they were visiting.

HOLIDAY TRAVEL SPIKE

Awo, who has expressed concerns about the convenience of ferry travel contributing to the depletion of natural resources on the Neighbor Islands, said nine officers were assigned to the Kahului port during the busy Memorial Day weekend, when the ferry reported its heaviest loads yet.

During the four-day holiday weekend, 5,728 passengers and 1,527 vehicles were transported, according to Hawaii Superferry. For the entire month of May, 21,882 passengers and 6,003 vehicles sailed on 44 roundtrips.

The 350-foot, high-speed catamaran can carry 866 people and 282 cars.

An executive order signed in November by Gov. Linda Lingle established more than 40 operating conditions and protocols for the ferry while an environmental review of ferry impacts is conducted.

Many of the conditions are the same as rules imposed on interisland shippers and airlines, such as prohibitions on interisland transportation of soil and plants without an agricultural inspection certificate.

But others are more restrictive, such as requiring interior, trunk and under-the-hood inspections of vehicles, and banning fishing nets, 'opihi, lobster and other crustaceans.