Clinton schedules meeting on Hawaiian refuge

Kaua’ians are being asked to attend a public meeting Dec. 13 to comment on

preservation areas and conservation methods for the new 84 million-acre reserve

created by President Clinton around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

The

refuge is the largest protected area in the United States.

The refuge

designation will protect 70 percent of the coral reefs in the United States and

endangered sea turtles, sea birds, Hawaiian monk seals, species of fish,

invertebrates and algae found nowhere else on Earth.

The Kaua’i meeting is

scheduled for ballroom B at Kaua’i War Memorial Convention Hall at 6 p.m.

The meeting is one of six that will be held across the state from Dec.

11-15. Another is scheduled in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 13.

All the

meetings are to be staged by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce. NOAA is tasked with

creating a management plan for the refuge.

With the establishment of the

refuge through an executive order signed by Clinton, the meetings will allow

for public comment on conservation methods spelled out in the order, according

to Delores Clark, a public affairs officer with NOAA.

The conservation

methods for 15 areas within the new refuge prohibit commercial and recreational

fishing, anchoring, touching or taking of coral and discharging or depositing

of material in the refuge with the exception of cooling water and engine

exhaust, Clark said.

Clifton said the refuge would help preserve the

islands’ natural beauty “for a long time. I hope, forever.”

Clinton said

President Theodore Roosevelt saw the “same imperative” when he established the

Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge.

Clinton also said he hopes the

reserve’s designation will bring quick results. He said 90 percent of the coral

reefs in the Indian Ocean have died and that reefs elsewhere are threatened by

pollution and fishing other activities by man.

The algae, built cell by

cell over millions of years, are irreplaceable and valuable, Clinton

said.

The designation caps commercial and recreational fishing in Hawai’i

at this year’s level and restricts fishing near some islands and reefs.

Fishermen have said it would shut down the Hawaiian lobster fishery and

would drastically reduce the takes on local favorites such as snapper and sea

bass, causing prices to rise and hurting Hawaii’s economy.

The creation of

the reserve sparked criticism from some members of the Western Pacific

Regional Fishery Management Council, one of eight regional councils that were

established by Congress to regulate waters three to 200 miles off U.S.

shorelines.

The refuge would affect the amount of fish that would be

available to Hawaiian consumers, the council said. Nearly half of Hawaii’s

commercially caught bottomfish comes from the Northwestern Hawaiian

Islands.

A federal court order last summer limited Hawai’i longline fishing

while the National Marine Fisheries Service completes an environmental

assessment of the industry’s impact on endangered sea turtles.

The court

also has closed indefinitely the $1 million lobster industry, mainly confined

to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Clinton’s executive order would close the

fishery for at least 10 years.

After reviewing public comments from the

latest meetings, Clinton will decide whether to make the 15 preservation areas

permanent for a management plan for the refuge.

Protection of the coral

reef is one of the key goals of the refuge.

In Hawaiian mythology, the

reef is revered and is seen as the source of a life cycle — creating algae

that feeds the fish that feed people.

The preserve encompasses 10 islands

and atolls extending 1,200 miles northwest of the main Hawaiian

islands.

The health of coral reef is critical to many endangered species,

including the green sea turtle and Hawaiian monk seal.

The decision to

create the refuge came after a team of scientists and educators from O’ahu

conducted the first-ever mapping of the coral system of the Northwestern

Hawaiian Islands. The maps and data from the research in September aided in

the creation of the refuge.

The public has until Jan. 8 to submit comments

on the preservation areas and conservation methods. The comments can be sent to

Roger Griffis, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 6117, 14th and

Constitution Ave. Northwest, Washington D.C. 20230.

People also can send

comments by fax, 1-301-713-4306 or by e-mail at

hawaiicomment@noaa.gov.

Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at

245-3681 (ext. 225) and lchang@pulitzer.net